Quote

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."

~ Blaise Pascal

"God is on our side" !

Depleted uranium poses big health risk
September 30, 2005

''God is on our side.'' Does that mean he approves of what we are doing? Does that mean he approves of our use of depleted uranium against men women and children in Iraq? Does he approve of our depleted uranium destroying the health of our own military? Depleted uranium (DU) is the left-over portion of native uranium after the Uranium 235 is removed. It is the densest and hardest of all metals. Made into shells, it pierces tank armor, invades the interior, and bounces around inside, and burns into a radio-active dust. This dust is carried by winds into all of Iraq, affecting its civilians and our military. It becomes a weapon of mass destruction.
DU was used in Dessert Storm. 159,238 of these veterans, out of 696,778 total troops, have been given a service-connected disability known as ''Gulf War syndrome.'' (It is considered) a''baffling'' disease to VA doctors. DU is being extensively used in Iraq. The syndrome is reoccurring.
Birth defects in Iraq have surged from 11 per 100,000 births in 1989 to 116 per 100,000 presently. Defects include children born with no brains, no sexual organs, no spines, and without eyes. Cancer, including child leukemia, has ballooned.
Dr. Doug Rokke, an Army doctor assigned to DU cleanup operations in Iraq says, ''DU is the stuff of nightmares.'' His own disability includes airway disease, neurological damage, cataracts, and kidney problems.
Dr. Rokke continues, ''This whole thing is a crime against God and inhumanity.''

Allen Glenn
Abilene

source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/op_letters_editor/article/0,1874,ABIL_7984_4120543,00.html
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as it is...

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Published on Sunday, October 2, 2005 by Agence France Presse

Deadly Bacteria Detected in US Capital During Anti-War March

WASHINGTON - A deadly bacteria listed among bioterrorism agents was detected in the US capital last month during a mass protest against the Iraq war.
Demonstrators gather outside the White House on September 24. A deadly bacteria listed among bioterrorism agents was detected in the US capital last month during a mass protest against the Iraq war. (AFP/File/Andrew Councill)
District of Columbia Health Director Doctor Gregg Pane told WTOP Radio late Saturday that biological agent monitors on the National Mall, an esplanade in downtown Washington, gave positive readings for a small amount of tularemia on September 24 and 25.
The sensors are operated by the Department of Homeland Security, but officials were not notified of the potential hazard until Friday, according to Pane.
"We've stepped up our surveillance and have notified doctors in the area about what to look for," Pane told the radio station.
He urged people who were at the Mall last weekend and who have been experiencing symptoms of pneumonia to immediately seek medical help, but added that there was no evidence that anyone had been affected by the bacteria.
First Lady Laura Bush was among those visiting the affected area at the time.
Tularemia, which is caused by the bacterium francisella tularensis, can occur naturally and is usually found in animals, especially rodents, rabbits and hares, according to federal health officials.
Symptoms include sudden fever, headaches, diarrhea, joint pain, cough and progressive weakness.
But the disease can be fatal if it is not treated with the right antibiotics, officials said.
Bacteria casing tularemia was very infectious, with between 10 and 50 micro-organisms usually enough to bring down an adult.
Although francisella tularensis could be isolated and grown in a laboratory, manufacturing an effective aerosol weapon would require considerable sophistication.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that national security officials believe the bacteria was probably not intentionally spread.
"There is no known nexus to terror or criminal behavior. We believe this to be environmental," the paper quoted Russ Knocke, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, as saying.
But federal health officials remain on alert for outbreaks of the disease far away from Washington because of the numbers of visitors to the capital last weekend.
Thousands of opponents of the war in Iraq from all around the country converged on the National Mall on September 24.
Organizers put the number of participants at more than 300,000, while police said, unofficially, the protesters probably numbered a little over 100,000.
The same day the Mall hosted the 2005 National Book Festival, a massive book signing extravaganza which was hosted by First Lady Bush.

source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1002-01.htm

Quote

"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is."

~MOHANDAS K. GANDHI

Heartfelt Compassion & Hospitality is Universal and....

......cannot be confined to One Religion, One Sexual Orientation, One Race, One Sex, One Country or Nationality, One Political Party or One Economic or Social Class. It is what it is !
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hospitality in action...

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Guest Columnist

Chuck Mazziotti: "Community should be proud of reaction to hurricane"
September 24, 2005

Much has been said regarding the lack of coordination in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. FEMA, Louisiana and the Orleans Parish governments continue to receive negative marks. The "blame game" likely will continue for months and years to come as people debate why the government could not manage the greatest disaster, or should I say the greatest natural "catastrophe," to strike America.
Although the national media focuses on the negatives, it must be noted that from the very beginning the Caddo-Bossier community has come together to meet the challenges locally. Our citizenry has stepped forward in a thousand ways to meet the needs of our fellow man and help the many evacuees in northwest Louisiana. This must not be overlooked.
This tragedy has been met financially through local donations and assistance programs and also through a coordinated response by the governing bodies within Caddo and Bossier parishes.
Undeniably, there have been some negatives -- some frustrations and some misinformation. But the public may not realize our city and parish leaders have met daily to handle a number of issues, such as sending personnel to south Louisiana; assisting shelter and support operations throughout the Ark-La-Tex; and organizing the details involved in recovery efforts at all levels of government.
Congressman Jim McCrery and his staff, particularly District Representative Richard Wright, have been instrumental in getting vital information to help those affected by this disaster.
Until last week, the Caddo and Bossier Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) operated around the clock, serving as the focal point to bring together assistance from all levels of government.
The EOCs are state-of-the-art, Web-based "command post" operations that centralize communications and information. Workers handled several thousand requests from all across the nation -- addressing everything from shelters and donations to victims trapped on rooftops and missing persons.
With the arrival of Katrina, Sam Giordano, Vince Marsala and Tom Williams readied and opened Hirsch Coliseum, LSUS and the CenturyTel Center. With just a few hours' notice, they pulled together to provide days and weeks of housing for thousands. Hundreds of volunteers assisted in that effort, working with the Red Cross in these first-class shelters.
Reid Brau and the Northwest Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross are another major positive. The agency always is there to help meet immediate needs.
Major Steve Long and the Salvation Army have done an awesome job operating the distribution center in the old Sam's Club for evacuees to get food, clothing and household goods. Summer Grove Baptist Church also stepped up to the plate by organizing a distribution center at the church. Together, these two groups have assisted thousands of people.
Local agencies have worked tirelessly, dispatching fire and rescue workers, equipment and supplies to the Orleans metro area; providing police and National Guard security at the shelters; and in housing more than 700 incarcerated evacuees in Caddo and Bossier jails.
Victims with medical needs got help, thanks to quick response from health, medical and pharmaceutical professionals. Several C-130's and medical helicopters transported many sick and injured to Shreveport hospitals. A special needs shelter, coordinated by the Department of Social Services, was readied and available at the Bossier Civic Center.
Educators, business leaders, churches and individual citizens also came to the rescue. Public and private schools accepted more than 2,000 students. Businesses and industries donated money, food, clothes, cots and more. Churches converted to shelters and volunteered for hours. City leaders and citizens opened their doors for our Southern guests to become northwest Louisiana residents.
Why have the positives dominated and prevailed here? It's the people! Volunteerism is at the heart of this community! It might be a cliché, but good can come out of everything. And that good is being spread every day by the positive actions of our area residents and our community leaders.
Chuck Mazziotti is director of the Caddo-Bossier Office of Emergency Preparedness.

source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050924/OPINION0106/509240313/1058/OPINION03
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Gregory Hudson
GREGORY HUDSON: "Compassion in time of tragedy heartwarming"
September 25, 2005
"»Who is my neighbor?"
The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10

As I write this column Hurricane Rita is bearing down on Texas. We have yet to fully understand or recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and here comes more destruction. I hope it's nothing like we've seen in the last few weeks. There are, however, some positive stories to come from the recent disaster.
A few days ago I saw something that I found somewhat heartwarming. As I was driving down the street in my neighborhood I saw that two little boys had put up a tent and opened a lemonade stand. While one boy sat in the chair under a tent, the other little boy stood by the street with a sign that said "Lemonade for Sale to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina." I immediately stopped my car and gave the boys a few dollars for their effort. I told them that I didn't need the lemonade, but I was so proud of them for what they were doing and that I just wanted to support what they were doing.
I told them they were being young "humanitarians" and "philanthropists." They probably didn't know what I meant because they only looked to be between 6 and 9 years old. But they were quite gracious in their thanks.
When I got back in my car I began to think about those little boys. Here were these two little boys living in all the comforts of middle-classness. Little boys who I could tell had everything they wanted and needed. Two little boys who I could tell were probably lacking for nothing, but something made them decide to make an effort to try and help those who didn't have and those who had lost everything.
All I could say was this is the kind of expression of compassion that I have been taught that God loves. These two boys in just opening a lemonade stand had captured the spirit of what it meant to be a good neighbor. Although they lived hundreds miles away from the devastation, they understood who their neighbor was. I assume somebody taught them compassion and how to show concern for not only those who look like them and think like them. Perhaps no one told these kids that "those people" got what they deserved. Maybe they hadn't learned that it wasn't their responsibility to lend a helping hand.
Those two little boys probably didn't know anyone in New Orleans, Mississippi or Alabama. They probably weren't even sure where these places were, but something moved them to want to help.
During the tragic events of the hurricane, I have seen some of the worst in mankind. We've seen racism. We've seen how no one really wants to take responsibility. We've seen partisanship as usual. We've even seen how many people who otherwise boast of their Christian faith look the other way and continue to ignore the suffering of the poor. But in spite of all that, we have also seen some compassion. That's what I saw in those two little boys the other day.
Now it really shouldn't take a tragedy or a catastrophe to cause people to show compassion, but tragedy can teach us a lesson. Those two little boys taught me one.
Gregory Hudson is a local minister. Write him in care of The Times, P.O. Box 30222, Shreveport, LA 71130-0222. E-mail to shreveportopinion@gannett.com.
source: http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050925/OPINION0103/509240301/1058/OPINION03
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Wednesday September 28, 2005
News

Hurricane evacuee finds new friends, home in Brownwood
By Steve Nash -- Brownwood Bulletin

It would be hard to say who was most excited Tuesday afternoon at a Brownwood Retirement Village apartment.
Was it the group of 20 or so folks who gathered for a suprise "welcome to your new home" party, or was it Patricia McField, who was chased out of her New Orleans home in a boat by Hurricane Katrina and followed a circuitous evacuation path that brought her unexpected friends in Brownwood?
"Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus ... Oh, is my heart still there?" McField, a 59-year-old widow, exclaimed she as surveyed the one-bedroom apartment, which had just become her new home. It was filled with furniture and other household items, thanks to donations from businesses and individuals.
McField moved from person to person throughout the balloon-festooned apartment, exchanging hugs with her new neighbors and members of a Sunday school class at Rocky Creek Baptist Church who helped set her up in the apartment.
"Isn't this so nice and sweet ... Thank you, darlin,' thank you ... Oh! I have a TV!" McField said.
After Katrina hit, McField left her flooded home near the French Quarter, where she lived alone, and was taken by boat to the Franklin Avenue Bridge, where she stayed with other hurricane victims for three days and nights.
They lived outdoors, and covered themselves with sheets when they needed to relieve themselves.
She was taken by truck to the Convention Center, where she stayed another three days and nights. She traveled by bus to Houston, where she was sheltered in the Reliant Center.
In Brownwood, meanwhile, Steve and Jeannie Pruett agreed that they would take evacuees into their home, as they had extra space.
"We have extra room and a love for the Lord, and faith in him and trust in him that he will take care of the details," Jeannie Pruett said.
Pruett and her mother-in-law, Dovie Francis of Austin, drove to the Houston area to help in a church, which her husband's relatives attended, which was working with evacuees. The church had enough volunteers, so Pruett and her mother-in-law volunteered at the Reliant Center.
"I looked out and I saw Pat, and I was drawn to her, and we became instant friends," Pruett said of her first meeting with McField. "She was just sitting there by herself, looking around. There was no one else around. I thought she seemed lonely and needed somebody to talk to her."
McField, who had an open Bible next to her, had been sleeping on a child-sized cot. Pruett managed to get her a larger one.
On a Tuesday, Pruett and her mother-in-law took McField out to lunch at an Olive Garden restaurant. On Wednesday, they took her shopping. On Thursday, Pruett work up at 4 a.m., knowing what she was supposed to do: invite McField home with her.
McField accepted her invitation, and Pruett brought her to Brownwood, where she temporarily moved in with the Pruetts, just under two weeks ago. Help from individuals and organizations poured in, including the Brownwood Lions Club and optometrist Stephen Hlis, who got her an eye exam and new glasses.
McField started working at Brownwood Manufacturing on Monday, and the American Red Cross and city officials arranged for the finances to get McField moved into the Brownwood Retirement Village.
"She has been a blessing to us," Pruett said. "... This woman has not asked for anything. We're lifetime friends, there's no doubt about it. She's an amazing lady. She sees God at work in all that has taken place with the hurricane."
The Pruetts gave McField one of their extra beds - and that, McField said, was all she would need.
When Pruett picked McField up at work Tuesday afternoon and drove her to her apartment, McField didn't know what was waiting for her.
Rodney Roby of Texas Furniture had given her living room furniture, with more furniture being given by other sources. Neighbors and members of Rocky Creek Baptist Church, where the Pruetts attend, gathered for her surprise party and carted in gifts.
"I had no idea ..." McField said more than once after arriving at her new apartment.
"Oh, it is fantastic," McField said of her welcome. "It's really a blessing. It's a God-sent thing. I'm so amazed."
McField said while she doesn't know her future, it seems likely Brownwood will be home for awhile. She said when she was stuck on the Franklin Avenue Bridge in New Orleans, she couldn't have imagined the welcome she would find in Brownwood a few weeks later.
"I sure prayed to God that I would be anywhere then," she said.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/09/28/news/news02.txt
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Editorials
TIME TO BETTER PLAN FOR NEXT HURRICANE
Editorial
09/26/2005
A sense of relief and thanksgiving seemed to prevail a couple of days after the latest monster hurricane slammed into the Texas-Louisiana coast early Saturday, leaving a trail of property destruction but claiming few lives.
Advertisement
Hurricane Rita acted like she knew that she wasn't really welcome, and rushed through the coastal area and along the Louisiana-Texas border at a much faster pace than anticipated.
Tyler, which early forecasts said could be buffeted by high winds for three days and heavy rains of up to 20 or more inches, got a relatively brief fling from strong winds Saturday and only a fraction of the amount of rainfall anticipated.
But most residents agreed that was enough. Trees, signs and unsecured objects were tossed around in the high winds, and several events were cancelled, as conditions during most of the Saturday hours were dangerous. Many areas of the city were without electricity for some of that period and the restoration of service continued Monday in some places and other east Texas cities.
By late Saturday, however, the high winds had departed from the Tyler area and the city quickly started returning to normal.
The East Texas State Fair, which was forced to close Saturday, opened its gates again Sunday and was back in full swing Monday with one of its biggest special days - Senior Citizens Day.
Things now look great, weatherwise, for the rest of the 2005 run which is scheduled to go through Saturday.
Other parts of deep East Texas and eastern parts of Louisiana were not as fortunate as the storm did far more damage and caused flooding conditions. But an unprecedented evacuation effort that cleared most of the coastal areas threatened by the storm is credited with saving countless lives.
That indicates the lessons from Hurricane Katrina, from which the fatalities are still being counted and might reach 1,000, were well learned. The biggest tragedy in lives lost involved the evacuation effort itself when a bus carrying a group of ailing elderly people caught fire on a crowded highway near Dallas, with 23 reported dead.
Some of the worst stories of human misery caused by Hurricane Rita involved the evacuation from Houston where a flood of vehicles trying to get out of harm's way caused big traffic pileups as traffic moved at a snail's pace, if at all. A shortage of gasoline at many stations caused additional problems as many motorists ran out of fuel. People reported being in their car for more than 20 hours, mostly getting nowhere fast.
But somehow most of them managed to get through it all. Reports from Houston and other areas in that vicinity Monday indicated that the "de-evacuation" of people flooding back to their homes was not experiencing as many problems and seemed to be flowing rather well.
One concern is that people who ran into road problems getting out might not be as easy to persuade to leave next time, especially since the worst of the hurricane missed their city. That could prove to be a dangerous, and even deadly, mistake should there be another storm that doesn't waver from its anticipated path.
That makes it important for officials to do some study and planning so they will be able to better assure residents that getting out will go more smoothly in the event of a "next time."
People who fled from the areas where the hurricane hit hardest might have lost homes and property, but they realize that the act of evacuating likely saved their lives so that they will be able to go about the task of restoring their lifestyle. And they are finding that millions of their fellow citizens have opened their hearts and pocketbooks to help them meet the challenge.
Many of those who have contributed to aid the victims of Katrina no doubt will now dig a little deeper to help the latest hurricane victims.
Natural disasters occur on their own schedule, and no way has been found to control or influence them, but people and nations through planning can mitigate the impact. This is especially true of hurricanes since there usually is a warning period before their arrival.
The positive news from Hurricane Rita is that lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina helped keep the latest storm from being as tragic.
Most Americans no doubt join in the hope and prayer that there will be plenty of time to review the experiences from both recent hurricanes and craft an even more highly effective disaster response plan before it might be needed again.
©Tyler Morning Telegraph 2005
source: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15281642&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=374751&rfi=6
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Brownwood Texas: Uniquely Similar to Every other Village on the Planet...

EDITORIAL: Heroic Effort

The Lufkin Daily News
Wednesday, September 28, 2005

People will complain about the blunders and inconveniences that are going to happen when you try to evacuate millions of people from the Texas Gulf Coast in a short time.
Anyone who says Angelina County – and, specifically, the city of Lufkin – did anything less than an phenomenal job of managing its end of the situation, however, either wasn't here or wasn't paying attention.
Lufkin had the technology and wherewithal to house as many as 10,000 evacuees. The threat of Hurricane Rita, combined with the fear instilled by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina just a few weeks earlier, forced our city to deal with several times that amount of people. We'll never know exactly how many visitors were here, because so many stayed in private homes, but it's likely Lufkin at least doubled its population of around 35,000.
Karen McCambridge, a 63-year-old evacuee from Texas City who was housed at Pitser Garrison Civic Center with other evacuees who had special needs, called the newspaper office Monday and offered to pay us to tell people how wonderful the city staff and volunteers were to her throughout the weekend. (We're happy to give her this space for free.)
“As much as everybody was scared, everybody up there made it a lot lighter, fed us well ... just everything,” McCambridge said. “Not one person ever frowned if someone asked for something. They always had a smile on their face.
“You people are absolutely incredible up there. It makes me want to move up there.”
McCambridge thanked Nellie Matthews, the civic center's director, along with doctors and nurses and fire department employees and “everybody” who worked to help others on little or no sleep. She was especially touched that the senior citizens sheltered at the civic center “were treated with respect and dignity, as if our lives were just as important as a younger person.”
We know officials and volunteers throughout Angelina County – like City Manager Paul Parker, assistant city managers Kenneth Williams and Keith Wright, Fire Chief Pete Prewitt, and Angelina County Judge Joe Berry and Sheriff Kent Henson, just to name a few – did all they could to facilitate a smooth-as-possible response to Rita. And they didn't do it just because it was their job. They did it because they genuinely cared.
“I am just so overwhelmed by what these people did, I cannot believe it,” McCambridge said. “I think that every one of these people need to be recognized. Too bad life couldn't be like this all the time.
“I will never forget this – never.”
Neither will we.
source: http://www.lufkindailynews.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/09/28/20050928LDNeddy.html
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Wednesday September 28, 2005

Op Ed

It could have been the other way around
Some might be tempted -- with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight -- to say the almost 3 million people who fled the Texas Gulf Coast region a week ago overreacted. Hurricane Rita appeared to be on a collision course with Houston or Galveston until it veered north and hit the somewhat less populated area around the Texas-Louisiana border instead.
Rather than second-guessing themselves, however, Houston residents who traveled as far as El Paso or Lubbock to find a motel room for the weekend should be counting themselves fortunate. Rita was so powerful that hurricane-force winds were registered 100 miles inland. Remaining in what was potentially harm's way would have been a huge error in judgment had Rita's strength not diminished slightly before making landfall, and if its course had indeed taken it directly into one of the most densely populated areas of Texas as predicted. Brown County residents might be advised to count their blessings, as well.
If the most probable projection of Rita's path issued a week ago had proven accurate, the heavy rains which drenched northeast Texas and parts of Arkansas could have easily been left here. That would mean up to 15 inches of rain in a matter of 24 hours would have been dumped on this part of the state, and flooding would have been widespread. Instead, the weather turned sunny with record heat -- 106 degrees, according to the National Weather Service's reading. Given the alternative which was feared, even such sweltering conditions were welcome.
Had the hurricane come our way, the hospitality and relief measures which Brownwood area residents have so generously and promptly offered others would have been needed by them instead. Surely, other Texans would have provided a similar response. But local residents can be thankful they were in a position to help, rather than being in a position of needing the help of others.
Members of the Brownwood City Council and administrative staff made that point Tuesday, and it is one worth emphasizing. Local residents opened their hearts, their wallets and in countless situations their homes to those who fled the hurricane. Those acts of kindness will not show up when state and federal governments compute the overall relief effort, but they will be remembered a lifetime by those who needed assistance.

Brownwood Bulletin
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/09/28/op_ed/editorial01.txt
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Neighbors and Guardians
In crises, we can't rely solely on government
09:13 AM CDT on Friday, September 30, 2005
In the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes, there remains a tempest of recriminations – which is necessary, given the magnitude of the organizational failures we've suffered through and the need to improve emergency preparedness.
There is perhaps a more profound lesson Katrina and Rita can teach us, a lesson that transcends politics. In his forthcoming book Worst Cases , completed before Katrina annihilated an American city, Rutgers sociologist Lee Clarke says that we should all be divested of the "illusions of control that are proffered to us by our leaders and expected by the public." He says that while big government is necessary to disaster response in the modern world, a large bureaucracy – FEMA, say – is by its unwieldy nature insufficient to handle various contingencies that erupt.
Mr. Clarke prophetically warns that we need to strengthen our local civil and community institutions, because they are the ones we will most depend on to save our lives in the event of disaster. You need look no further for proof of that observation than the heroic response of south Louisiana's Cajuns to Hurricane Rita, which obliterated much of coastal Acadiana.
The sheriff of Vermilion Parish immediately called for anyone with a boat to help rescue the stranded and was overwhelmed by volunteers. In Vinton, a small Cajun town in the eye of the storm, a hardware store remained open throughout the hurricane so that townspeople could take emergency supplies with only a signature; the owner said he knew the townspeople would be good for it. In the village of Lafitte, Mayor Timmy Kerner told the Baton Rouge Advocate that the entire community had turned out to wage a (losing) battle against rising floodwaters. Explained the mayor: "We're that kind of town. Everybody knows everybody, and we always help each other."
It's not just rural and small-town areas. Mr. Clarke points out that a spontaneous flotilla organized by ordinary New Yorkers successfully evacuated a half million people from lower Manhattan on Sept. 11. And it was not the government, but engaged and pro-active passengers who prevented doomed Flight 93 from crashing into the U.S. Capitol that day.
No doubt about it, there must be reform at the top of federal, state and municipal bureaucracies to improve emergency preparedness and disaster response. Still, we'd be wise to learn from the Cajuns and work to strengthen civil society – that is, our ties to family, neighbors and community organizations – before the next catastrophe strikes.

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-hurricane_30edi.ART.State.Edition1.1ce91909.html

DELAY: " CRONY CAPITALISM " & " Pimping of the President "

Republican Tom Delay and his supporters cannot change this fact regarding Travis County District Attorney's Record: " Mr. Earle denied that the investigation had a partisan stench, pointing out that during his tenure, his office's public integrity unit had pursued investigations against 15 elected officials – 12 Democrats and three Republicans."
source:http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092905dntswdelay.a0903e49.html
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EDITORIAL

The felony indictment of Tom DeLay
Travis County grand jury has spoken; now it is up to the courts
EDITORIAL BOARD
Thursday, September 29, 2005

Too much power can be a dangerous thing, as many political leaders have learned over the years. Hubris and overreaching are hazards of the political class.
Wednesday's felony indictment of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example of power's pitfalls. A Travis County grand jury indicted DeLay and two of his former operatives, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, on charges of conspiring to evade the state law barring corporations from giving to candidates.
DeLay sowed the seeds that led to a GOP majority in the Texas Legislature after the 2002 elections, a majority that returned the favor in a mid-census redistricting that gave DeLay a more Republican Congress. But he reaped the whirlwind because he pushed too hard and demanded too much.
An angry and defiant DeLay blamed the indictment, which temporarily cost him his leadership position, on partisan politics by Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat. Coming from one of the most fanatical partisans in the country, that charge is risible.
DeLay also ignores the fact that the indictment came not from Earle but from a grand jury of 12 local citizens who investigated a complex political scheme. They sacrificed long hours for one of the most important duties of citizenship.
Even more difficult to digest was DeLay's assertion in his taped statement Wednesday that the 2003 Legislature's gerrymandered political map was "fair."
That politically inspired redistricting fractured Texas into a crazy patchwork of congressional districts that makes no sense whatsoever. Austin's 10th Congressional District was split into three parts — one reaching to the Houston suburbs and two others stretching to the border with Mexico. You can stand at the corner of West 38th and Ronson streets in Central Austin and spit into three different districts.
DeLay may accuse Earle of playing politics, but the district attorney would have failed in his duty had he not investigated allegations of campaign finance irregularities and money laundering. Earlier this month, the grand jury indicted the now-defunct Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee and the Texas Association of Business in that same fund-raising scheme.
Wednesday's indictment accuses DeLay's political action committee of accepting $155,000 in corporate money, then writing a $190,000 check to an arm of the Republican National Committee. Accompanying that check was a list of Texas legislative candidates and the amounts they were to receive.
Colyandro is former executive director of the Texas political action committee connected to DeLay, and Ellis headed DeLay's national political committee.
In his taped statement, DeLay attacked Earle personally and said , "(As) recently as two weeks ago, Mr. Earle himself publicly admitted I had never been a focus or target of his inquiry. Soon thereafter, Mr. Earle's hometown newspaper ran a biting editorial about his investigation, rhetorically asking what the point had been, after all, if I wasn't to be indicted.
"It was this renewed political pressure in the waning days of his hollow investigation that led this morning's action."
A Sept. 11 American-Statesman editorial questioned why only the political action committees and not the individuals behind them had been indicted. DeLay was not mentioned by name, nor was there an allusion to him. It is either DeLay's hubris or his conscience that leads him to think that the editorial targeted him.
source: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/29delay_edit.html
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Brownwood: Who said " All Politics is Local " ?

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3 Charged in Killing Of Fla. Businessman

Boulis Slain After 2000 Abramoff Deal
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 28, 2005; Page A03

Fort Lauderdale police said yesterday that they charged three men in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of a Florida businessman who was gunned down in his car months after selling a casino cruise line to a group that included Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis was killed on a Fort Lauderdale street on Feb. 6, 2001. Two of the three men charged had been hired as consultants by Adam Kidan, one of Abramoff's partners in the SunCruz Casinos venture.
Anthony Moscatiello (top), Anthony Ferrari (lower left), 48, and James Fiorillo (lower right), 28, were arrested in connection with the ambush slaying of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis.
Anthony Moscatiello, 67, identified by authorities as a former bookkeeper for the Gambino crime family, was arrested Monday night in Queens, N.Y. Anthony Ferrari, 48, was arrested in Miami Beach. Both were charged with murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. James Fiorillo, 28, was arrested in Palm Coast, Fla., yesterday and charged with murder and conspiracy.
Boulis, millionaire founder of the Miami Subs sandwich chain, sold SunCruz to Abramoff and Kidan in September 2000, at a time when Abramoff was one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists. Abramoff and Kidan were indicted last month on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy in connection with a $60 million loan they obtained to purchase the casino company.
Abramoff is at the center of a federal investigation into lobbying for Indian tribes and influence-peddling in Washington. Abramoff used contacts with GOP Reps. Tom DeLay (Tex.) and Robert W. Ney (Ohio) and their staffs as he worked to land the SunCruz deal, interviews and court records show.
The indictment in the Boulis slaying remained under seal yesterday, and authorities declined to disclose details of the charges against the defendants. Michael D. Becker, a Miami lawyer who has represented the men in other matters, said yesterday that he has not spoken to them yet.
Attorneys for Kidan and Abramoff said their clients have no knowledge about who killed Boulis. The two men were on a business trip abroad the night Boulis was shot. "Adam has cooperated with police right from the beginning. He's never been told he is a subject or a target," said Kidan's attorney, Martin Jaffe.
Fort Lauderdale police say they have long been interested in interviewing Abramoff, but he has repeatedly begged off, citing scheduling difficulties. Abramoff's attorney, Neal Sonnett, said after the fraud indictment that his client knows nothing about the slaying but would be willing to meet with detectives. He said he had no comment on the murder charges.
Abramoff and Kidan have been friends since their days as College Republicans in Washington. Kidan, of New York, owned the Dial-a-Mattress franchise in the District until it filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s. Their third partner in the SunCruz deal was Reagan administration official Ben Waldman.
Dealings between Boulis and the Abramoff group were often tense. At key points in the negotiations, Ney placed comments in the Congressional Record -- first sharply criticizing Boulis and later praising the new ownership under Kidan. Ney later said he had been unaware of Kidan's background.
Also during the negotiations, Abramoff brought a lender he was trying to impress to hobnob with DeLay in Abramoff's FedEx Field skybox at a Redskins-Cowboys game. DeLay has said he does not remember meeting the lender.
After the sale, the friction led to a December 2000 fistfight between Kidan and Boulis, who had remained as a minority partner. Kidan told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Boulis had said, "I'm not going to sue you, I'm going to kill you." Kidan said that SunCruz thereafter barred Boulis from its casino boats.
to read the entire article please visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700980.html
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Panel Says Abramoff Laundered Tribal Funds
McCain Cites Possible Fraud by Lobbyist
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A01

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff used money from a Mississippi tribal client to set up bogus Christian anti-gambling groups and to fund pet projects including gear for a "sniper school" in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to documents released yesterday by Senate investigators.
The revelations came in e-mails and testimony made public yesterday by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee at its third hearing on the activities of Abramoff and Michael Scanlon, a public relations executive and former spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.).
Abramoff, who is also at the center of a corruption investigation by the Justice Department, laundered tribal money by directing the Indians to donate to tax-exempt groups that the lobbyist later used for his own purposes, the Senate committee said. One project involved Abramoff's effort to arrange for military equipment, including night-vision goggles and a "jeep," for the sniper training conducted by a high school friend.
Aaron Stetter, a former Scanlon employee, testified that Scanlon and Abramoff sought to whip up opposition to casinos proposed by rival tribes by setting up bogus Christian phone banks. He said callers would identify themselves as members of groups such as the Christian Research Network or Global Christian Outreach Network and urge voters to contact their representatives.
Material released yesterday also appeared to undermine assertions by former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed, now a candidate for Georgia lieutenant governor.
Reed has acknowledged receiving $4 million from Abramoff and Scanlon to run anti-gambling campaigns in the South. Reed has said he did not know where the funds were coming from, but e-mails suggest that he was aware that some of the money he was getting came from the casino-rich Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Other e-mails presented at the hearing -- obtained from Abramoff's former law firm, Greenberg Traurig LLP -- showed that Abramoff and his lobbying team discussed how they would "pump up" their bills and expense accounts to the Choctaws by tens of thousands of dollars a month, raising new questions about the law firm's failure to rein in the lobbyists.
The committee chairman, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said investigators had uncovered possible mail and wire fraud that should be pursued by the Justice Department, as well as tax issues that would be of concern to the Internal Revenue Service. The Justice Department already is looking into more than $82 million in lobbying and public relations fees Abramoff and Scanlon received from tribes around the country.
Choctaw Chief Phillip Martin did not testify, but he said in a statement that "we were astounded that a senior director at a major law firm would or could engage in misconduct of this sort . . . and that he was able to get away with it for so long."
Donald Kilgore, attorney general of the Choctaw tribe, said the firm's lobbyists engaged in "a blatant, calculated scheme to defraud a client." He said records and e-mails the tribe has reviewed show a series of kickbacks, misappropriated funds and unauthorized charges. "Mr. Abramoff consistently directed that the bills be padded and pumped up," Kilgore said.
Greenberg spokeswoman Jill Perry said that when the firm learned of Abramoff's activities more than a year ago, it demanded his resignation. "We share others' outrage at this misconduct, which is antithetical to our firm's culture and values," Perry said.
A spokesman for Abramoff said that "any fair reading of Mr. Abramoff's career" would show that he was an effective lobbyist for his clients.
to read the entire article please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062200921.html
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The Pimping of the President

click here...

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September 27, 2005
latimes.com : Opinion : Commentary

Robert Scheer:
When connected turns into corrupted
CRONY CAPITALISM is the name of the Republican game. Their slogan is "take care of your friends and leave the risks of the free market for the suckers." That would be John Q. Public.
From Halliburton's overcharging in Iraq to Enron's manipulation of the California energy crisis and now the emerging hurricane reconstruction boondoggle, we witness what happens when the federal government is turned into a glorified help desk and ATM machine for politically connected corporations.
But the defining case study on the deep corruption of the Bush administration and the GOP is emerging from the myriad investigations of well-connected Republican fundraiser and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. For starters, Abramoff, a $100,000-plus fundraiser for George W. Bush's presidential campaigns, is under federal indictment on wire fraud and conspiracy charges. He is also under congressional and FBI investigations.
In the last fortnight alone, the spreading stain of Abramoff's legacy is seen in the possible undoing of Bush's nominee to the nation's No. 2 law enforcement position, the resignation and arrest of the Office of Management and Budget's former procurement chief and another blow to the already tawdry reputation of top Bush political advisor Karl Rove.
It was reported last week that Timothy Flanigan, Tyco International Ltd. general counsel and Bush's nominee for deputy attorney general, stated that Abramoff's lobbying firm had boasted that his access to the highest levels of Congress could help Tyco fight tax liability legislation and that Abramoff later said he "had contact with Mr. Karl Rove" about the issue.
Flanigan's statement was in response to scathing criticism from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee — which is considering his nomination — that he had not been sufficiently responsive in his testimony. Records and interviews show that Flanigan supervised Abramoff's successful efforts two years ago to lobby Congress to kill the legislation, which would have penalized companies such as Bermuda-based Tyco that avoid taxes by moving offshore. Abramoff's firm was paid $1.7 million by Tyco in 2003 and 2004.
In his statement, Flanigan said Abramoff also boasted of his ties to Tom DeLay, the House majority leader. DeLay once described Abramoff as "one of my closest and dearest friends" and accompanied him on several foreign junkets. DeLay denies that the Abramoff-arranged trips were political favors. DeLay continues to be tangled in myriad ethics investigations, many of them linked to his relationship with Abramoff.
Another episode in the rapidly evolving Abramoff scandal involves David Safavian, one of the Bush administration's top federal procurement officials. He resigned shortly before being arrested last week for allegedly lying to officials and obstructing a Justice Department investigation in connection with his relationship with Abramoff. Safavian received a golf trip to Scotland with the lobbyist, allegedly as a quid pro quo for helping Abramoff in his efforts to buy federal properties. Safavian and Abramoff once worked together at a powerful Washington lobbying firm.
Before Safavian resigned, he reportedly was working on contracting policies for Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Don't expect the GOP Congress to look askance at this. Safavian's wife is chief counsel for oversight and investigations on the House Government Reform Committee, which oversees procurement matters, although she's said she'll recuse herself.
The hurricane season is proving to be a windfall for GOP-connected companies such as Halliburton, which are being rewarded with lucrative contracts despite their shoddy performance in Iraq. In the vocabulary of crony capitalism, the word "shame" does not exist.
The players may change, given the occasional criminal indictment, but the game goes on. On the day of Safavian's arrest, former Tyco Chief Executive L. Dennis Kozlowski was sentenced to eight to 25 years in prison for bilking millions from the company, which we are now expected to believe has been reborn virtuous.
Tyco's current lobbyist, Edward P. Ayoob, who once worked with Abramoff at a Washington law firm, is lobbying for another cause these days: Flanigan's confirmation as the nation's second-highest law enforcement officer. Ayoob insisted last week that he is acting on his own and not on behalf of Tyco. And, oh yes, Flanigan promises that, if confirmed, he will recuse himself from any Abramoff investigation involving Tyco. Sure.

source: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer27sep27,0,5132888.column

Hurricane Rita and Jasper Texas: As it is...............

Situation in Jasper 'desperate'

By CHRISTINE S. DIAMOND and BRONWYN TURNER The Lufkin Daily News
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

JASPER — This is a city without power and in peril, rescue workers said Monday, citing a worst-case scenario of two months without electricity for the town nicknamed “The Jewel of the Forest.”
The curtain of trees surrounding Jasper became her enemy when Hurricane Rita roared through.
"We sustained hurricane winds of about 100 to 120 mph for about a nine-hour period, so we have thousands of trees down within our city," said Jasper Police Chief Todd Hunter, who paused during a hectic day to sound a shrill note of alarm. "Our city is without gas. We have no gas except to run emergency vehicles, This city is without food. There were some MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) brought in yesterday, but it was not enough.
"People are becoming desperate. They've been three days without water. They weren't prepared," he added. He asked people to call their state representatives and senators and "try to encourage them to get our food and get our water to us, because we're desperate and we need them now. People have been without all basic needs for days."
Denise Kelley, Jasper's acting city manager, warned the emergency cannot be quickly resolved.
"We are told it could be anywhere from one to two months before we get power again," said Kelley, speaking outside the city's Emergency Operations Center.
Jasper's electric provider is based in Beaumont and — until Beaumont is up and running — all the repairs in Jasper are useless.
"We never thought we'd get hit this hard being this far inland," Kelley said.
Without power, the city was left incapacitated.
Without power, the city's water wells stopped pumping, leaving 15,000 residents and evacuees without running water for three days, according to Hunter and Kelley.
Without power, grocery stores closed, and the perishable food left within them has spoiled.
"We are at the point now where everything is melted," Kelley said.
Several stores had offered to provide their food to the emergency command center at Jasper's central fire station, Kelley said. And restaurant owner Robbie Lovett of Elijah's Cafe had promised workers at the command post two hot meals a day until supplies ran out, she said.
"Right now must of our businesses are shut down for lack of power," said Tom McClurg, executive director of the Jasper Economic Development Corporation. "Businesses would like to open but can't."
"We have no power — generators are just now getting here," Kelley said.
Only two years before, McClurg and other city leaders had spoken of the city's economic boom. Now, with an extended power outage in the future, Jasper will see a "significant loss of sales tax value, and many employees without vacation benefits will have hours lost at work,” McClurg said.
Without power, refueled gas stations have no way to transfer gasoline to customers' vehicles, Kelley said.
"There is no gas except to fuel emergency vehicles," Hunter said.
Jasper, Hunter said, was never intended to host Hurricane Rita evacuees.
"Most of the Rita evacuees had to keep going north," McClurg said.
But when those fleeing Rita ran out of gas and found themselves stranded in Jasper — which ran out of gas itself on Friday afternoon — the city was forced to absorb the newcomers in addition to the 800 Hurricane Katrina evacuees who had arrived almost a month earlier, according to McClurg.
To make matters worse, those who did reach safety north of Jasper are trying to return to their homes only to be turned back, stranded without gas, food or money in Jasper, she said.
"People need to stay put," Kelley said.
Dwindling resources
Outside the command center Monday, a young mother of three was given an emergency fuel-up by Ricky Rogers of Spring. His company, Roland Robert Distributor Inc., had just purchased the fuel tanker to help with Hurricane Katrina but was instead diverted to Jasper to help with Rita victims like Dana Trammell.
Out of gas, with two children to take care of, Trammell was overwhelmed. Her husband, who had uncontrollably high blood pressure, and her 3-year-old son, who was suffering seizures, had been taken by helicopter to a hospital beyond her means' reach.
With 16,000 people to feed, the city was in desperate need of food, even MREs, Hunter said.
"I need people to call state representatives and senators to get water and food to us," he said.
Drinking water and ice are also on short supply, Kelley said.
"We've issued a boil water notice because there are so many water leaks," she said. "Thirty-foot pieces of water pipe were jerked out of the ground."
Kelley, the city's financial manager, said when she was named as the acting city manager she never thought she'd be “dealing with a hurricane."
Standing in the shade of the converted fire department/cafeteria holding a plate of food, Kelley's strong facade broke as she spoke of her own home, barricaded by so many uprooted trees that her husband had to cut her a path with a chainsaw.
"Everybody is exhausted. You know how it is when you don't sleep and you're tired and hungry," Kelley said.
"We have had some looting but we are not taking reports unless essential," Hunter said. "I have an 18-man police force that has grown in size two times by volunteers from other departments.
"When we get food, people are going to get desperate.”
McClurg said they hoped to put the city back together as soon as they could. In the meantime, he said, “We are thankful for outside assistance."
Broken home
"We started out with one house and ended up with two," joked Sandra Sheffield about the hole left in the middle of her family's house off state Highway 63 just north of Jasper.
Behind the house Sheffield grew up in and returned to with her husband four years ago was an open-air camper and the new trailer home where her mother-in-law now lives. While Sheffield and her mother-in-law, Mildred, holed up in the frame house during the first part of the storm, it was the other two structures that were left unscathed from the storm.
"We decided the cooler was the coolest place we own," Sheffield laughed.
Sheffield and her husband, a minister, had spent the last 30 years away from Jasper and decided to come back when a chaplain position opened at Goodman Unit, a state prison. That's where her husband spent the duration of Hurricane Rita.
"The storm came through and my mother-in-law and I were at home alone," Sheffield said, estimating that the storm arrived about 3:30 a.m. Saturday. "I got scared of the weather and moved my mother to the floor by a supporting wall."
Not long after that, the first tree fell. Not waiting for what would happen next, the Sheffields got in their car and "made a new driveway to the neighbors' house. We rode the storm out there."
There were already 14 people at the neighbor's home, but when headlights cut through the horizontal gusts of rain and the Sheffield women appeared on the back porch, they were quickly made welcome.
Later, a second tree fell on their severed home.
Like many homes and store fronts in Jasper, a large taped-X covered the Sheffields' front picture window. A few feet away from the unbroken window, the wood frame house bore a gaping hole as if something had taken a bite out of it. An insurance company saw to the removal of the two giant pine trees on Sunday, Sheffield said.
"In a couple hours they got the place looking a lot better," she said.
On Sunday, a journalist with Good Morning America who had been staying at a motel in Jasper arrived at the Sheffields' home for an interview that aired Monday morning. After the interview, knowing the journalist's motel lacked water and electricity, 81-year-old Mildred offered the young man a cold shower in her new trailer.
"Really, we all are during pretty good," Sheffield said.
Powerless
Margie Warren, of Port Arthur, said her grandmother's Jasper home might be without electricity for three weeks.
She and her sister had evacuated their Port Arthur homes, as they always do for Category 3 and 4 hurricanes, and sought refuge in Jasper, where they grew up.
"We left (Port Arthur) at 4 a.m. Thursday and got here about 7 a.m.," Warren said. "We got stalled in Kirbyville once."
Port Arthur police told Warren to call back in three to four days to see if they could return home.
Behind her on the porch, Warren's mother, Mamie Warren, spoke of the perilous storm they weathered together Saturday.
"It started pounding on us real bad from 2-7 o'clock," Mamie said.
"It sounded like a freight train. The rain wasn't so bad," Warren said. "We opened the door and saw all the trees going down."
From their shaded spot on grandma Mary Ella Grant's covered porch, high above the street, Grant's prodigy could view the massive destruction Hurricane Rita wrought. Several century-old trees that had once adorned the city park lay on their sides split in gnarled pieces, their exposed giant rootballs still intact.
As they recounted their storm saga, Warren's sister, Patricia Broxton, walked up, her arms extended passionately as she proclaimed, "I had to go and see if it was up. Lufkin is wide open! I bought kerosene lamps, batteries, flashlights, candles, cigarettes — whatever money could buy!"
I'll think twice next time
With temperatures soaring near the 100-degree mark, the family gathering behind another small Jasper home resembled something of a Labor Day holiday affair.
But the group assembled on Ronny Billingsley's back patio Monday afternoon wasn't on holiday. They should never have been there at all.
Jasper, Billingsley said, was under a mandatory evacuation Thursday. Most of those resting in the shade, drinking water from aluminum FEMA-issued cans, came to the Billingsley home from Vidor and Pine Forest —communities in the path of Hurricane Rita.
So why did Billingsley, a justice of the peace, ignore the warning?
"We had too many people coming up here to take care of," he said. "I'll think twice next time there is a Category 4 storm coming in, though.
"We are 120 miles from the Gulf and you don't expect this kind of damage from a hurricane," he said, looking over at his neighbor's broken home. "We've never had a Category 3 storm come through like this. People didn't know what to expect. But we do next time."
Billingsley's guests began to feel the beginnings of the hurricane about 11 p.m. Friday.
"You ought to have been here," said L.M. Hock of Pine Forest.
"It wasn't bad 'til 11 o'clock, when the winds picked up to gale force," Billingsley said. "About the time you'd think it was through, it would get worse."
Huddled in the dark with flashlights, the Billingsleys were soon joined by the Sheffields. Without power they were dependent on their son, a senior at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, to keep them apprised of the hurricane's progress based on information he saw on the weather station.
"He would call us every 45 minutes or hour and give us an update," Billingsley said. "That was the only way we knew the worst wasn't over with."
Shingles were blown off their roof and their well-mown yard was covered with broken limbs. Otherwise, Billingsley said, they were doing well with operational phones, running water and some power supplied by a generator.
"We are just all so relieved that nobody got hurt, and no real property damage. We feel real lucky," Billingsley said. "As far as the daily grind and daily business, we are at a standstill."
The one thing they do have is time, he said, with no jobs to go to because everything was shut down.
"There were garbage trucks running this morning,” said John Britt of Vidor. “I couldn't believe it.”
With power out for so long, the focus had shifted to cooking the contents of a defrosted freezer.
"We had a whole bunch of ground meat," Billingsley said. "When we are through with that, we have venison we'll fry up. And when that is gone, we'll take what fish we got and fry that up."
"We have plenty of canned goods,” Hock said. “We all brought some.”
Billingsley, bare-chested in the Texas heat, sat up straight as he announced he had one thing to say about the weekend ordeal.
"The people in East Texas are what I call survivors," he said. "They are going to figure out what to do. They'll cut what they need to cut. They'll get by on what they got."
On Sunday, the group had gone to town, where they had heard on the radio that FEMA was handing out water and MREs.
"If I had nothing else to eat, they'd be great,” said Derek Billingsley , the Nacogdoches man who spent Sunday trying to dodge police roadblocks to reach his family in Jasper. “Anything is better than nothing.”

Christine S. Diamond's e-mail address is cdiamond@coxnews.com.

Bush and Conserving Fuel: Do as I say, not as I do ?

as it is..........

rotate...

" The military brass will always try to sanitize the effects of war..."

Jury convicts Abu Ghraib prison guard
By T.A. Badger / Associated Press
September 27, 2005

FORT HOOD - Army Pfc. Lynndie England, whose smiling poses in photos of detainee abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison made her the face of the scandal, was convicted Monday by a military jury on six of seven counts.
England, 22, was found guilty of one count of conspiracy, four counts of maltreating detainees and one count of committing an indecent act. She was acquitted on a second conspiracy count.
The jury of five male Army officers took about two hours to reach its verdict. Her case now moves to the sentencing phase, which will be heard by the same jury beginning Tuesday.
England tried to plead guilty in May to the same counts she faced this month in exchange for an undisclosed sentencing cap, but a judge threw out the plea deal. She now faces a maximum 10 years in prison.
England, wearing her dark green dress uniform, stood at attention Monday as the verdict was read by the jury foreman. She showed no obvious emotion afterward.
Asked for comment after the verdict, defense lawyer Capt. Jonathan Crisp said, ''The only reaction I can say is, 'I understand.'''
England's trial is the last for a group of nine Army reservists charged with mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, a scandal that badly damaged the United States' image in the Muslim world despite quick condemnation of the abuse by President Bush. Two other troops were convicted in trials, and the remaining six made plea deals. Several of those soldiers testified at England's trial.
Prosecutors used graphic photos of England to support their contention that she was a key figure in the abuse conspiracy. One photo shows England holding a naked detainee on a leash. In others, she smiles and points to prisoners in humiliating poses.
The conspiracy acquittal came on a count pertaining to the leash incident. She was found guilty of a maltreatment count stemming from the same incident.
Beyond the sordid photos, prosecutors pointed to England's statement to Army investigators in January 2004 that the mistreatment was done to amuse the U.S. guards at Abu Ghraib.
''The accused knew what she was doing,'' said Capt. Chris Graveline, the lead prosecutor. ''She was laughing and joking. ... She is enjoying, she is participating, all for her own sick humor.''
Crisp countered that England was only trying to please her soldier boyfriend, then-Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., labeled the abuse ringleader by prosecutors.
''She was a follower, she was an individual who was smitten with Graner,'' Crisp said. ''She just did whatever he wanted her to do.''
England, from Fort Ashby, W.Va., has said that Graner, now serving a 10-year sentence, fathered her young son.
The defense argued that England suffered from depression and that she has an overly compliant personality, making her a heedless participant in the abuse.
England's earlier attempt to plead guilty under a deal with prosecutors was rejected by Col. James Pohl, the presiding judge. Pohl declared a mistrial during the sentencing phase when testimony by Graner contradicted England's guilty plea.
Graner, a defense witness at the sentencing, said pictures he took of England holding a prisoner on a leash were meant to be used as a training aid. In her guilty plea, England had said the pictures were being taken purely for the amusement of Abu Ghraib guards.
source:http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_state/article/0,1874,ABIL_7974_4111914,00.html
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the hell of war...

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Army Probes Complaints of Corpse Photos

WASHINGTON - The Army is investigating complaints that soldiers posted photographs of Iraqi corpses on an Internet site in exchange for access to pornographic images on the site, officials said Tuesday.
An Islamic civil rights group said it wrote to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld objecting to the practice, which it said may violate international laws of war, and urging the Pentagon to bring it to an end.
"This disgusting trade in human misery is an insult to all those who have served in our nation's military," Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in his letter to Rumsfeld.
Bryan Whitman, a spokesman for Rumsfeld, said the Pentagon had recently become aware of Internet postings and is looking into it.
"Obviously, it is an unacceptable practice," Whitman said.
An Army spokesman, Col. Joseph Curtin, said the Criminal Investigation Division recently began investigating the matter on behalf of Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of the Multinational Corps in Iraq.
Another Army spokesman, Paul Boyce, said later that the preliminary criminal inquiry determined, based on available evidence, that felony charges could not be pursued. But the matter, including the possibility of disciplinary action, was being handled in coordination with other military services, he said.
Many of the photos depict dismembered Iraqi corpses and body parts. Some also were submitted by soldiers in Afghanistan.
source: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050927/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/corpse_photos

Animal welfare isn't just for liberals & Vegans file lawsuit

Matthew Scully: Down on the factory farm
Animal welfare isn't just for liberals
06:37 AM CDT on Sunday, September 25, 2005

A few years ago, I began writing a book about cruelty to animals and about factory farming in particular. At the time, I viewed factory farming as one of the lesser problems facing humanity – a small wrong on the grand scale of good and evil but too casually overlooked and too glibly excused. This view changed quickly. By the time I finished the book, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy, I had come to view the abuses of industrial farming as a serious moral problem. Little wrongs, when left unattended, can grow and spread to become grave wrongs, and precisely this had happened on our factory farms.
The book also provided an occasion for fellow conservatives to get beyond their almost instinctual dislike of animal-rights groups and to re-examine issues of animal cruelty. Conservatives have a way of dismissing the subject, as if, where animals are concerned, nothing very serious could ever be at stake. It is assumed that animal-protection causes are a project of the left and that the proper conservative position is to stand warily and firmly against them.
I had a hunch that the problem was largely one of presentation and that if they saw their own principles applied to animal-welfare issues, conservatives would find plenty of reasons to be appalled. More to the point, having acknowledged the problems of cruelty, we could then support reasonable remedies.
Conservatives, after all, aren't shy about discoursing on moral standards or reluctant to translate the most basic of these into law. Setting aside the distracting rhetoric of animal rights, that's usually what these questions come down to: What moral standards should guide us in our treatment of animals, and when must those standards be applied in law?
We don't need novel theories of rights to do this. The usual distinctions that conservatives draw between moderation and excess, freedom and license, moral goods and material goods, rightful power and the abuse of power, will all do just fine. Treating animals decently is like most obligations we face, somewhere between the most and the least important, a modest but essential requirement to living with integrity.
Conservatives like the sound of "obligation" better than "right," and those who reviewed my book were relieved to find me arguing more from this angle than from any notion of animal rights. "What the PETA crowd doesn't understand," Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online wrote, "or what it deliberately confuses, is that human compassion toward animals is an obligation of humans, not an entitlement for animals."
If one is using the word "obligation" seriously, however, then there is no practical difference between an obligation on our end not to mistreat animals and an entitlement on their end not to be mistreated. Either way, the entitlement would have to arise from a recognition of the inherent dignity of a living creature. Animals cruelly dealt with are not just things, not just irrelevant details in some self-centered moral drama of our own. They matter in their own right. All creatures sing their Creator's praises, as this truth is variously expressed in the Bible, and are dear to him for their own sakes.
A certain moral relativism runs through the arguments of those hostile or indifferent to animal welfare – as if animals can be of value only for our sakes. In practice, this outlook leaves each person to decide for himself when animals rate moral concern. It even allows us to accept or reject established facts about animals, such as their cognitive and emotional capacities and their conscious experience of pain and happiness.
There is a disconnect here: Elsewhere in contemporary debates, conservatives consistently oppose moral relativism by pointing out that, like it or not, we are all dealing with the same set of physiological realities and moral truths. We don't each get to decide the facts of science on a situational basis. We do not each go about bestowing moral value upon things as it pleases us in the moment. We do not decide moral truth at all: We discern it.
Likewise, the great virtue of conservatism is that it begins with a realistic assessment of human motivations. We know man as he is, not only the rational creature, but also, as Socrates told us, the rationalizing creature, with a knack for finding an angle, an excuse and a euphemism. Whether it's the pornographer who thinks himself a free-speech champion or the abortionist who looks in the mirror and sees a reproductive health care services provider, conservatives are familiar with the type.
So we should not be all that surprised when told that these very same capacities are often at work in the things that people do to animals – and all the more so in the United States' $125 billion-a-year livestock industry. The human mind, especially when there is money to be had, can manufacture grand excuses for the exploitation of human beings. How much easier it is for people to excuse the wrongs done to lowly animals.
Corporate farmers hardly speak anymore of "raising" animals, with the modicum of personal care that word implies. Animals are now "grown," like so many crops. Barns somewhere along the way became "intensive confinement facilities" and the inhabitants "production units."
The result is a world in which billions of birds, cows, pigs and other creatures are locked away, enduring miseries they do not deserve for our convenience and pleasure. We belittle the activists with their radical agenda, scarcely noticing the radical cruelty they seek to redress.
At the Smithfield Foods mass-confinement hog farms I toured in North Carolina, the visitor is greeted by a bedlam of squealing, chain rattling and horrible roaring. To maximize the use of space and minimize the need for care, the creatures are encased row after row, 400- to 500-pound mammals trapped without relief inside iron crates about 6 feet long and less than 2 feet wide. They chew maniacally on bars and chains, as foraging animals will do when denied straw, or engage in stereotypical nest-building with straw that isn't there, or just lie there like broken beings.
While efforts to outlaw the gestation crate have been dismissed by various conservative critics as "silly," "comical" and "ridiculous," it doesn't seem that way up close. The smallest scraps of human charity – a bit of maternal care, room to roam outdoors, straw to lie on – have long since been taken away as costly luxuries. The pigs know the feel only of concrete and metal.
They lie covered in their own urine and excrement, with broken legs from trying to escape or just to turn, covered with festering sores, tumors, ulcers, lesions or what my guide shrugged off as the routine "pus pockets." But not to worry, as a Smithfield Foods executive assured me, "They love it." It's all "for their own good." It is a voice conservatives should instantly recognize, as we do when we hear that the fetus feels nothing.
Everything about the picture shows bad faith, moral sloth and endless excuse-making, all readily answered by conservative arguments, based on tradition, faith, moral certainty and efficiency.
We're told that they're just pigs – or cows or chickens or whatever – and that only urbanites worry about such things, estranged as they are from the realities of rural life. Actually, all of factory farming proceeds by a massive denial of reality – the reality that animals are not just production units to be endlessly exploited but living creatures with natures and needs. The very modesty of those needs – their humble desires for straw, soil, sunshine – is the gravest indictment of the men who deny them.
Conservatives are supposed to revere tradition. Factory farming has no traditions, no rules, no codes of honor, no little decencies to spare for a fellow creature. The whole thing is an abandonment of rural values and a betrayal of honorable animal husbandry – to say nothing of veterinary medicine, with its sworn oath to "protect animal health" and "relieve animal suffering."
For the religious-minded, and Catholics in particular, no less an authority than Pope Benedict XVI has explained the spiritual stakes. Asked recently to weigh in on these very questions, then-Cardinal Ratzinger told German journalist Peter Seewald that animals must be respected as our "companions in creation." While it is licit to use them for food, "We cannot just do whatever we want with them. ... This degrading of living creatures to a commodity seems to me, in fact, to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."
Those religious conservatives who, in every debate over animal welfare, rush to remind us that animals are secondary and that man must come first are exactly right – only they don't follow their thought to its moral conclusion. Somehow, in their pious notions of stewardship and dominion, we always seem to end up with singular moral dignity but no singular moral accountability to go with it.
Lofty talk about humanity's special status among creatures only invites such questions as: What would the Good Shepherd make of our factory farms? Where does the creature of conscience get off lording it over these poor creatures so mercilessly? "How is it possible," as Christian convert Malcolm Muggeridge asked in the years when factory farming was beginning to spread, "to look for God and sing his praises while insulting and degrading his creatures?"
If reason and morality are what set human beings apart from animals, then reason and morality must always guide us in how we treat them, or else it's all just caprice, unbridled appetite with the pretense of piety. When people say that they like their pork chops, veal or foie gras too much to give them up, reason hears in that the voice of gluttony, willfulness or, at best, moral complaisance. What makes a human being human is precisely the ability to understand that the suffering of an animal is more important than the taste of a treat.
Factory farmers also assure us that all of this is an inevitable stage of industrial efficiency. Leave aside the obvious reply that we could all do a lot of things in life more efficiently if we didn't have to trouble ourselves with ethical restraints. Leave aside, too, the tens of billions of dollars in annual federal subsidies that have helped megafarms undermine small family farms and the decent communities that once surrounded them and to give us the illusion of cheap products. And never mind the collateral damage to land, water and air that factory farms cause and the billions of dollars it costs taxpayers to clean up after them. Factory farming is a predatory enterprise, absorbing profit and externalizing costs, unnaturally propped up by political influence and government subsidies much as factory-farmed animals are unnaturally sustained by hormones and antibiotics.
So it shouldn't be surprising that every conservative who reviewed my book conceded that factory farming is a wretched business and a betrayal of human responsibility. And having granted that certain practices are abusive, cruel and wrong, we must be prepared to do something about them.
Americans, conservatives and liberals alike, need to start by confronting such groups as Smithfield Foods (my candidate for the worst corporation in America in its ruthlessness to people and animals alike), the U.S. National Pork Producers Council (a reliable Republican contributor) and the various think tanks in Washington subsidized by animal-use industries for intellectual cover.
If such matters were ever brought to President Bush's attention in a serious way, he would find in the details of factory farming many things abhorrent to the Christian heart and to his own kindly instincts. Even if he and other world leaders were to drop into relevant speeches a few of the prohibited words in modern industrial agriculture (cruel, humane, compassionate), instead of endlessly flattering corporate farmers for virtues they lack, that alone would help set reforms in motion.
The law that's needed would apply to corporate farmers a few simple rules that better men would have been observing all along: We cannot just take from these creatures; we must give them something in return.
We owe them a merciful death and a merciful life. And when human beings cannot do something humanely, without degrading both the creatures and ourselves, then we shouldn't do it at all.

Matthew Scully, a Los Angeles writer, served until last fall as special assistant and deputy director of speechwriting to President Bush. He is the author of "Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy." This essay is adapted from a longer version first published in The American Conservative (www.amconmag.com). You may contact Mr. Scully through www.matthewscully.com.

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/points/stories/DN-scully_25edi.ART.State.Edition1.32ff48f.html
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Vegans file lawsuit over surveillance at ham store

By JILL YOUNG MILLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/23/05
They don't eat ham. And they don't like to be spied on, either.
The story begins outside a HoneyBaked Ham store on Buford Highway just before Christmas 2003.
KEITH HADLEY / Staff
Vegans Caitlin Childs and Christopher Freeman were arrested after a protest at a HoneyBaked Ham store.
That day, two vegans — vegetarians who eat only plants and plant products — were wrapping up an animal cruelty protest with a handful of other vegans when they noticed a man in a CVS pharmacy parking lot taking pictures of them.
Later, they would learn that the man was an undercover homeland security detective, according to a federal lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed Thursday on the vegans' behalf.
The lawsuit, in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, charges that the detective, who was working for DeKalb County's Homeland Security Division, and a county police officer subjected Caitlin Childs and Christopher Freeman to false imprisonment, false arrest and harassment and violated their constitutional rights.
After the ham protest, Childs and Freeman walked over to the mysterious man's car and wrote down his license plate number. When they drove off, they noticed the car following them.
They pulled into a parking lot at a Mexican restaurant. The car and a police car pulled in behind them. The vegans were ordered out of their car and told to hand over the piece of paper with the tag number on it. Childs refused and was handcuffed and searched. She and Freeman were arrested for disorderly conduct and jailed.
They were released, but the piece of paper and Childs' house keys weren't returned, the lawsuit says.
"I couldn't believe that all of it was happening," Freeman, now 36, said Thursday. "We were out there doing educational outreach on a topic that is important to us." At the event, "we were handing out leaflets on alternatives to pork," he said.
Childs, now 22, said they brought suit because "this really could happen to anyone who practices their free speech in the kind of time we're living in. It's really scary."
Childs and Freeman live in East Atlanta. They are suing DeKalb County, Detective D.A. Gorman and an officer identified as K.A. Moffit. The newspaper could not reach the officers Thursday, and county officials wouldn't comment.
In court, Childs hopes to hold government officials "accountable." "Citizens aren't going to allow you to bully us and harass us and take away our rights," she said. "We will fight back."
A Homeland Security report on the incident, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution got from the ACLU of Georgia, says Gorman told Childs and Freeman he was a police detective "instructed to monitor and picture the protest."
Gorman told Childs he was driving an undercover vehicle and didn't want the tag number passed around. The report said the two vegans were "hostile, uncooperative and boisterous towards the officers."
The county's Homeland Security Division, within the DeKalb Police Department, was formed after the County Commission decided in October 2001 to hire a homeland security director. The move was prompted by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Gerry Weber, legal director at the ACLU of Georgia and a lead attorney in the lawsuit, said the case "illustrates the overreaching of homeland security by monitoring clearly peaceful protesters. This is a poor allocation of resources and chills free speech."
Weber said he had no idea why the protesters were under surveillance. "One couldn't imagine a less threatening image than vegan protesters in front of a HoneyBaked Ham," he said.
Deputy Chief Moses Ector, DeKalb's commander of homeland security, referred a reporter to the chief public information officer for DeKalb County police, who said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit.
Acting county attorney Viviane Ernstes did not return phone calls seeking comment. Burke Brennan, spokesman for the county, said, "DeKalb County has a strict policy preventing us from discussing pending litigation."
In addition to the lawsuit, the state ACLU is seeking any law enforcement surveillance files on Childs and Freeman.
ACLU affiliates in 15 other states have filed similar requests with the FBI on behalf of more than 100 groups and individuals, according to an ACLU news release, "as part of a nationwide effort to expose unlawful domestic spying."
Said Childs, "They're using security and the idea of terrorism, which is such a hot word and scares people, to silence people who have unpopular beliefs."
source: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/dekalb/0905/vegans0923a.html

Making Hay out of trajedy: Preachers, Politicians & Brownwood Talk Show Host

STEVE BLOW - Dallas Morning News
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 25, 2005


I sure have been hankering for a rain. After all this commotion, I sure hope we get one.
As of Saturday evening, a lot of bluster was all I had seen of Hurricane Rita.
I really didn't intend to write about hurricanes today. Goodness knows we're deluged on that topic. But right now it's hard to think about anything else.
I want to cry every time I think about those poor elderly folks on that bus. Who could have guessed that tragedy from Hurricane Rita would hit first in Dallas County?
And here's something I'm wondering: What sort of wicked sin is going on in Port Arthur?
Some of the hellfire preachers were quick to pronounce Hurricane Katrina a judgment of God on sinful New Orleans.
Yeah, the Big Easy makes an easy target. Now let's hear them explain how the hardworking people of Port Arthur and Beaumont and Lake Charles brought God's wrath on themselves.
Actually, what I would like most is to not hear another word. I have had it with people trying to make hay out of tragedy, whether it's preachers or politicians.
President Bush and the Republicans have rightly taken some lumps over the response to Katrina. But the blood-in-the-water reaction of some Democrats has been disgusting, too.
Now is the time for politicians to take the high road – if they can remember how to find it.
And I think I'll scream if I get one more snotty e-mail forwarded my way about what ungrateful slobs the evacuees are or how the NAACP and the ACLU never sheltered anyone during the storm.
Are some people never allowed to come down off their soapboxes?
One particular e-mail came so many times that I finally had to investigate. The writer – unidentified of course, seemingly a woman – tells how her parents worked at the rest stop on Interstate 20 at the Texas state line. Busloads of Katrina evacuees stopped there.
"Daddy worked pretty much all night. He and my mom said the people were HORRIBLE. Nasty, filthy mouthed, ungrateful," she writes. "TxDOT had to pretty much scour the rest area and restrooms after they left."
Well, it goes on and on. And the whole thing just makes Melissa Wilson sick. "Oh, it's not true," she said mournfully.
Ms. Wilson is supervisor of the state's travel information center at that rest stop. She was on duty almost nonstop for the four days of the evacuation.
And let me set the scene there. During that time, 278 buses stopped. With about 50 passengers crammed in each, that's almost 14,000 people.
Initially, the idea was just to provide the evacuees with a bottle of water and a chance to stretch. But word spread in the surrounding communities, and the rest stop became an incredible scene of care and support for the evacuees – hot meals, toiletries, clean clothing, refreshments for the road.
"Everyone that I came in contact with was so nice and appreciative and just couldn't thank us enough for what we were doing," Ms. Wilson said.
She would have heard of any trashy behavior as described in the e-mail, she said. "I never had one person report to me that anybody was ungrateful. Not one."
The e-mail upsets her because it's a final sour note to what was a wonderful, uplifting event. "It took what was such a positive experience and turned it around," she said. "And what was the point of that e-mail, other than to stir up hatred?"
It's a good question. And a better one is why thousands of people see fit to keep spreading it. On one forward, the sender wrote, "Perhaps it's true and perhaps it's not."
So why send it? Is concern for the truth really that casual?
You know, our contempt for the looters down in Louisiana burned bright hot. But those people were just stealing stuff.
E-mails of this sort are stealing something far more precious and hard to replace – our compassion, our faith in others, our bond of unity.
It's another form of looting, done with the click of a mouse.
How about if we climb off our soapboxes a moment? Right now, prayer and support are what our neighbors really need.

E-mail sblow@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/DN-blow_25met.ART0.East.Edition2.3251513.html

Starbucks vs Flipnotics + ACL + GOD = HURRICANE RITA ?

AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN
COMMENTARY: JOHN KELSO
ACL facing God's steam over lattes
Friday, September 23, 2005
Seems like everyone and his brother is using God to explain natural disasters these days, so here goes.
The reason God was sending Hurricane Rita toward Austin to mess with the Austin City Limits Music Festival?
Easy. It's because God was angry at ACL organizers for picking Starbucks as the only coffee vendor in the festival's Austin Eats food court. And God knows, Starbucks is not an "Austin Eats." Starbucks is a "Seattle Eats."
So naturally, God was trying to scare the snot out of the festival organizers for not picking a local Austin caffeine vendor.
Hey, if TV evangelist Pat Robertson can blame Hurricane Katrina on the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for picking Ellen DeGeneres to host the Emmys, I can blame Rita on ACL for picking Starbucks for an allegedly downhome Austin music affair.
I can make a pretty logical case here. This will be Starbucks' first appearance at the festival. Not coincidentally, this is the first time the festival has had to worry about getting its shorts blown off by a big wind with a girl's name attached to it.
And now this message from God warning event organizers not to be stupid enough to repeat this stunt next year: "Little soggy out there, folks? Well, that's what you get for putting a Starbucks in an 'Austin Eats' food court. Next time I'm sending in the locusts."
There is a connection. Let's see. Rainy. Gloomy. Dank. Dribbly. Goopy. Soggy. Drippy. Moldy. Seattle. Austin City Limits. Hurricane. Hmmm. Eerie, isn't it? Instead of keeping Austin weird, Starbucks' presence could have kept Austin wet.
This situation ticks off some people. Mark Kamburis, co-owner of Flipnotics Coffeespace at 1601 Barton Springs Road, says he served drinks at the previous two ACL festivals. But this year Starbucks has taken his place, and he ain't there.
This doesn't make him happy, because he figures Austin businesses should get first dibs at an Austin event.
"I guess I'm old-fashioned, but this one just hurt," said Kamburis, who figures that he is losing $5,000 to $10,000 in advertising alone by not being at the festival. "Bringing in a corporate Goliath like Starbucks. Maybe I'm losing touch with what Austin is becoming."
I called Capital Sports and Entertainment, the company running the festival, to see why they picked an out-of-towner. But no one returned my call. Without meaning to sound like a detective, I'm guessing it has something to do with money.
Besides, do we really need another Starbucks? There are so many Starbucks in this town that I expect to wake up one morning to find a tiny Starbucks operating a to-go window out of my pants.
Kamburis says that the folks at CSE have been trying to appease him by offering him free festival passes.
May God punish them by backing up their plumbing.

John Kelso's column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 445-3606 or jkelso@statesman.com.
source: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/09/23kelso.html
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What is ACL ? http://www.austin360.com/xl/content/xl/acl2005/ACL2005.html

Hurricane Rita: No Room at the Inn and Politicial Mouthing !

Letters to the Editor
Austin American Statesman
Get ready for neglect

I live six miles off the Gulf near near Long Beach, Miss. We decided to stay as Hurricane Katrina approached. We faced no flood threat, even though I suppose high winds or a tornado could have destroyed our house and killed us. That didn't happen, and we actually sustained minor damage.
I had no intention of joining the masses on the roads and spending an eternity in traffic. Nor was I going to sit somewhere for weeks until local officials decided to let me come home. I had a generator, plenty of gas and food, and I'm glad I stayed.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Texans were prepared for Hurricane Rita, but massive traffic jams seem to indicate that another politician has let his mouth overload his abilities.
If the folks who left think leaving was hell, just wait until they try to return. If the storm hits the Texas coast, your hell is just beginning. Just as we are finding out, the government does a mean job of talking assistance, but has a hard time delivering it.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency only helps low-income families. If you have money and insurance, you are on your own. And if your house floods, you better hope you had flood insurance. If not, your insurance companies aren't going to give you a dime. Welcome to reality, Texas. May God help you and your neighbors. If you wait for government to do anything, don't hold your breath.

ROBERT HAYES
Long Beach, Miss.
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Enjoy the festival

For all of Austin's supposed liberalness, how in this time of need can we be so selfish? How many hotel rooms are not available to Hurricane Rita evacuees because the promoters of the Austin City Limits Festival didn't want to cancel? How many were asked to leave Friday because of people who have reservations for the festival?
I don't care whether the weather was a factor or not —millions evacuated, and many came our way. If I were one of those who had travelled 12 or more hours to get here only to be told there is no room, I wouldn't think much of our fair city.
They should have canceled this concert so that evacuees could have as many rooms available to them as possible. I hope everyone has a great time. I'm sure the Texans who ended up in Oklahoma wouldn't want it any other way.

BRIAN CURRIER
Austin

source: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/24Letters_edit.html
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Note from Steve: It was really good to see and hear Texas Governor Rick Perry telling TV viewers how well things were going regarding the mass evacuation from the Houston Area. Thank God the network offered me a split screen where I could see for myself how well things were going (

reality...

) for the folks on the Highways in the Houston Area as Perry spoke ! I agree with Robert Hayes' letter and in particular his quote " another politician has let his mouth overload his abilities. " I'm glad I got to see the reality on the ground and hear the political BS for myself !
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Sept. 25, 2005, 6:25AM

After terrifying drill, it's time to answer questions

By RICK CASEY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Video, graphics courtesy Associated Press and KHOU; free Real Player, Flash plug-in and Acrobat Reader may be required.)
I'll make a deal. If politicians will follow two simple rules, I'll put the blame game under a two-week moratorium.
• Rule #1: If you're not one of the elected officials who has operational responsibilities, do NOT elbow your way into a news conference simply for the pleasure of getting face time with a television camera.
We need to hear details from the governor, the county judges, the mayors.
We don't need to hear every member of Congress or City Council congratulate each other for the wonderful work they're doing.
We don't even need to hear from the majority leader, thank you Mr. DeLay, or a ranking Democrat, thank you Ms. Jackson Lee.
Hold some hearings instead.
• Rule #2: Even if you are the governor, county judge or mayor, waste no time talking about how well everything went. It will only make us even angrier.
The most important thing that went well, for us if not for Port Arthur and Beaumont, is that Rita turned right. And you had nothing to do with that.
What you did have something to do with was the largest automotive traffic jam in world history.
That's not to blame any single official. I said I'd declare a moratorium and I meant it.
I'm here to celebrate that traffic jam, not to blame someone for it.
The celebration
First, we can celebrate the remarkable spirit of the people who were caught up in it, sweltering in heat, panicked about running out of gas as a Category 5 hurricane appeared to be chasing them, frantic about their children, their elderly parents, their pets.
These people were frustrated and angry. But to their credit, they did not take out their anger on their neighbors.
They cursed the authorities.
They had some reason. Authorities knew their evacuation plans had weaknesses.
Bill King, the former mayor of the waterfront town of Kemah, had been a voice in the desert for years on the issue.
I talked to him three weeks ago, shortly after Katrina hit New Orleans. He made several suggestions, ones he has repeatedly made to other officials.
Time for a post-mortem
The first one: "There needs to be a plan in place to make sure that gas stations have gas. Companies stop sending jobbers (gasoline haulers) in during an evacuation. There needs to be a plan to get them in and out."
He had suggestions about school buses and nursing homes. He said we need annual drills — not computer exercises in a closed room like the one conducted earlier this year, but full-fledged drills designed to check our systems, to clarify roles and to educate the public.
Ironically, that's what Rita gave us: the most thorough emergency drill imaginable.
Now we need a post-mortem on that drill.
The most important thing is to ask the right questions, to learn the right lessons.
The wrong lesson would be to be afraid to order evacuations. The right lessons would tell us how to do it effectively.
Here are some starter questions, based on conversations with King:
Were the lines of authority clear and effective?
Could the sequence of evacuation have been more effective? Could, as King suggests, the highly vulnerable coastal areas have been evacuated the first day, with Houstonians and other area residents in less vulnerable places being told to wait a day or two before deciding to leave?
Were hospitals and nursing homes properly provided for?
And why the hell wasn't there enough gasoline?
Was it the failure of individuals, or the failure of systems? Or both?
We need to know the answers, and quickly. Rita not only gave us this drill, she reminded us that these days, hundred-year events can happen every three weeks.
After we get the answers, those who want (and I confess I may be among them) can play the blame game.
But the only way we all win is if this most painful drill leads to a better response next time.

source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3368518
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Katrina Redux? Beaumont Paper Finds Federal Storm Failure in Texas

By E&P Staff

Published: September 25, 2005 9:50 PM ET
NEW YORK In Beaumont, Texas, claims that federal relief agencies learned their lessons from Hurricane Katrina and are on the ball in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita are apparently ringing hollow. The Beaumont (Tex.) Enterprise reported tonight that disaster response coordinators in the area hard hit by Rita say they are seeing the same foot-dragging federal response this weekend witnessed two weeks ago in New Orleans and Mississippi.
Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith and other local leaders, "haggard after days of almost non-stop work with little sleep, pleaded with the federal government to get itself in a higher gear," the paper said. Griffith said he wanted to return services to residents who remain but that "it seems like they can't figure out how to get it done."
"There's a drastic shortage of generators in Beaumont to provide emergency power," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said. "There are generators at Ford Park, and FEMA is withholding their release. They want to finish their damage assessment."
Jefferson County officials had a plan to distribute Meals-Ready-to-Eat from local fire stations, the paper said. However, Griffith said the MREs, like the generators, were being withheld by FEMA.
"They won't let us have them," Griffith said. "They said we had to go through the state - which we already did - to get them. I'm going over there (to Ford Park) now to figure this out."
Looters have struck in town, but had to be let go because there is no safe place to jail them right now. Officials have asked FEMA to provide temporary jail quarters.
The Enterprise has not published a print edition this weekend but provided PDFs of a scaled-down version on its still-active Web site. It included a note there Sunday: "We will publish a home edition as soon as we possibly can."
Griffith said he's sending fire officials to local stores to get supplies, including propane to cook with. "We're going into stores and taking food out," Griffith said. "We're going to do what we got to do to get the job done....
"There's just a breakdown in the state and federal government that you saw in Katrina and you've seen in other disasters," Griffith said. He said he hopes to see a change "so at least the next people that have to go through it ... will have some kind of process that makes sense that can immediately deliver what people need."

source: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001180626
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"We can't help it if politicians come here and just want to be seen by the media,"

source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/3371052

Vile letters seem distinctly un-Christian

Mary A. Jacobs: Vile letters seem distinctly un-Christian
09:45 PM CDT on Friday, September 23, 2005

In response to a column, I once received a handwritten note from a reader saying: "Dear Ms. Jacobs, You are going to hell. Stop trying to take other people with you." This reader at least had the courage to sign his name, beside which he affixed a cheery little rainbow "Jesus" sticker.
Letters like that puzzle me. I think of Christianity as a path of peace and kindness. But the meanest, most sarcastic and hostile letters and e-mails I get come from people who call themselves Christians.
One Christian letter-writer called me a liberal, God-hating agent of the devil. Apparently he disagreed with what I had to say. (Point of fact: I am not a liberal.)
Even more puzzling was a letter from a reader who didn't like one of my news articles. The story was a Q&A, so all I did was write a short introduction, ask questions and excerpt the interviewee's responses, word for word.
But the interviewee was a self-described "progressive" Christian, so this reader fired off an angry e-mail calling me a "political hack writer." His message didn't take issue with the way I wrote the story. Just by giving a voice to this particular interviewee, he was certain, I was part of some evil cabal trying to put a Democrat in the White House. And then, somewhat creepily, he defended his nasty note by likening himself to Jesus, because Jesus spoke pointedly to the Pharisees.
Of course, I also receive many kind and encouraging e-mails from Christians. One reader greets me almost every Monday morning with an e-mail, almost always disagreeing sharply with something I've written, but thoughtfully and respectfully. I'm honestly glad when his letters are printed. I'm sure he's voicing the opinion of a lot of our readers. They help complete the picture on the issue at hand.
So I don't have a problem with people who disagree with me – just the mean ones. What are those about?
A colleague who is Jewish still smarts – more than 10 years later – over venomous reactions from Jewish readers responding to a column about how some Jews get caught up in Christmas festivities. Maybe people get ugly when they feel one of their own has betrayed the tribe. Or, because I've identified myself as a Christian, maybe readers presume I'm trying to speak for them.
And some people are just plain mean anyway, and will use whatever religion is handy as a weapon.
Here's what I think (and oh, boy, I'm gonna get letters). Offensive, ugly letters are the verbal equivalent of religious terrorism. Islamist extremists are so certain they're right, so utterly convinced that God is on their side, that they feel entitled to kill people. Christians who write venomous letters aren't resorting to physical violence, but they feel similarly entitled to insult or attack. It's on the benign end, but it's the same slippery slope.
But verbal drive-bys hurt the Christian cause just as surely as suicide bombers give Islam a bad name. Because ugliness is particularly ironic for a faith based on the character of Jesus, who was famously silent when it came time to defend himself before Pilate, even though his life was on the line.
So why do the meanest e-mails come from Christians? I think it's mostly about numbers. Statistically speaking, most readers are at least nominally Christian, and Christians aren't immune to the incivility that's so prevalent these days.
And, to extend the comparison with Islamic terrorists, it would be unfair to make any conclusions about Christians based on these letter-writers. For every mean letter, I can think of dozens of Christians I've known or interviewed who are doing incredible, selfless work, quietly helping the widow, the orphan and the poor.
But we all should inquire what sort of witness we create by resorting to sarcasm or hostility. No matter how "right" we are.
Once, a Christian reader wrote to accuse me of pandering to indiscriminate multiculturalism. I fired back an angry reply, which was probably just as unfair. And you know what? She wrote back and apologized. And, chastened, I backed off, too. This reader's generosity was truly a witness to me. We still disagreed, but we parted friends.
Another friend once asked if the "you're going to hell" e-mails ever freaked me out. Did I ever worry, she asked, in the back of my mind, that I might possibly really be headed to hell?
Nah. I find them oddly comforting. Because, judging by the glee with which those readers seem to anticipate my eternal suffering, and given what I know about Jesus, I feel pretty confident they won't be on the same page when Judgment Day rolls around.
And if you're one of readers who sent those ugly e-mails?
Don't bother, I've already blocked your addresses.
Meanies.

Mary A. Jacobs, a Dallas freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to Religion. Polite e-mail may be sent to maryjacobs44@yahoo.com.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/opinion/stories/092405dnrelguestcol.21f24476.html

Hurricane Rita, Diversity and the Glue that Binds Us....

Jacquielynn Floyd:
Home's host, guests put diversity to the test

10:42 PM CDT on Friday, September 23, 2005
Dallas Morning News

Even before Rita unleashed a fresh wave of Dallas-bound coastal evacuees, there was evidence the city was starting to sag a little under the stress.
It's entirely understandable. The fragile blossom of spontaneous generosity wilts around the edges after a while, but the need is as great as ever. Evacuees still in shelters need apartments; those in apartments still need furniture; people with furniture still need jobs.
Then there are those who opened their homes during Katrina's dramatic aftermath. Sharing your living space ranks at the high end of the selflessness scale, and it's demanding. I spoke to a woman last week who is sheltering 10 family members in her one-bedroom apartment. She's growing desperate at the difficulty of finding financial assistance and more permanent housing for them.
This week, Mayor Laura Miller reported that some hosts were throwing in the towel, dropping evacuees they had been sheltering off at Reunion Arena and swelling the numbers in the city's care.
Jeff Martin says he won't do that, no matter what, even though his house is too crowded and he's running short of money and he misses his privacy. He won't do it, even though his household is currently a stranger assemblage than the most ill-conceived sitcom that ever fell out of a scriptwriter's head.
Jeff is a young, outspoken gay man (he was a float driver in last week's gay pride parade) with a dramatically decorated home and five meticulously bred miniature Shih Tzu dogs. Don and Darlene Davis are rough-hewn and voluble, devout Pentecostals left homeless by the New Orleans floodwaters.
Shelters wouldn't take them because they refuse to be separated from their own two dogs, big, scruffy mutts. Jeff was volunteering in a church soup line when he found the Davises, helpless and adrift. He took them home, dogs and all.
On that first day, Jeff discreetly took Mrs. Davis aside for a confidential discussion.
"I said, 'Let me tell you straight up, I'm a homosexual man,' " he said.
Mrs. Davis nodded eagerly and recounted the rest of the conversation: "I said, 'Oh, baby, that don't matter none.' "
The Davises are not, perhaps, your average houseguests. Both are diabetic and in poor health. Mr. Davis is an irascible 70-year-old who readily admits that he did prison time in his younger days; his many stories are occasionally punctuated with racial references that might be considered offensive. Mrs. Davis is excitable and talkative; she frequently recounts her dreams and visions and conversations with God.
But there's a vulnerable sweetness about the couple, a naive trust that Jeff takes as a personal obligation. The unlikely circle is rounded out by one of Jeff's closest friends, an elderly African-American lady named LaVera who brings covered dishes and casseroles over every day.
The Davises are lucky in that they fled New Orleans with their own cars. Mr. Davis is a taxi driver who owns his own cab, which he drove in a bumpy little caravan with Mrs. Davis, who drove the other car with the dogs and a couple of suitcases full of clothes.
Every day, they drive from Jeff's house downtown to Reunion Arena, where they stand in long lines, trying to get medical attention, prescriptions, and food stamps. Like many other evacuees, they are proud working people bewildered to find themselves dependent on a slow and not-always-efficient bureaucracy.
After several weeks at Jeff's house, they would like to find their own place. But Jeff has been unable to find suitable placement for the Davises, despite calls to countless agencies looking for help. So far, his calls go unreturned, or he just gets busy signals.
"I can't help thinking about my own parents," he said a little shakily. "I think about them being away from home, stranded somewhere with their dogs ..." His voice trailed off, and he pulled his glasses free to wipe his eyes.
"Jeff's our guardian angel," Darlene said – she was crying, too, and I was a little close to tears myself. "That's exactly what I call him."
But Jeff quickly recovered his composure and his wicked wit: "They asked God for an angel," he said, pausing a beat for the punch line: "And he sent them a big old queen!"
And there we all sat, laughing and weeping, with the dogs rolling around on the floor.
The glue that binds us is often messy and awkward. And it's miraculous stuff.
ent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/jfloyd/stories/092405dnmetfloyd.2225e878.html

Rita & Reality !

Rita

Gridlock congests Houston roads
Traffic so bad, some evacuees turn around and head home
By Mike Ward

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, September 22, 2005
HOUSTON — The huge evacuation of the Texas' largest city slowed to a crawl early today, as hundreds of thousands of evacuees turned outbound highways into increasingly feverish parking lots.
With less than 24 hours remaining before the outer bands of much-feared Hurricane Rita were to begin hitting Houston, officials reported that all major evacuation routes were jammed — from breakdown lane to shoulder in some sections, as drivers tried to get around the backup.
At the same time, mandatory evacuations were ordered in Liberty County — just northeast of Houston — and in Pasadena and several other surrounding cities, moves that will put hundreds of thousands of additional Texans on the road trying to get out.
Some evacuees were running out of gas enroute, as dozens of gas stations ran dry and closed along the evacuation routes. Many abandoned their cars, and caught rides with others. Others said they had turned around and were trying to head home, snarling inbound traffic, as well.
By 8 a.m., Texas Department of Transportation officials announced plans to turn three major freeways into one way, all-outbound lanes within hours to get traffic flowing again. And Houston emergency officials were exploring the possibility of bringing in tankers to fuel motorists at expressway rest stops or other points.
"We've sat in traffic for seven hours, we're almost out of gas, we're going back while we still have enough gas," said a teary-eyed LaMarque resident Hugo Almondero, who sat in a Galleria parking lot just off Interstate-610 with his wife, three children and two dogs.
His 1986 Chevrolet pickup, loaded with belongings under blue tarps and towing a rented trailer, sat forlornly nearby.
"We got as far west on (Interstate-10) as the Barker Cypress (west of the downtown core). Seven hours," he said. "All the gas stations we saw were out of gas. We were not going to make it out in time.
"Do I want to die in my car? No," he said. "I am finding someplace else to go."
Officials said that by mid-morning, they were making plans to remove median barriers to turn all lanes of I-45 between Conroe and Buffalo, north of Huntsville, into northbound traffic. The same was planned for U.S. 290 northwest of Houston and I-10 West.
Caller after caller to radio and TV stations told much the same story. Police confirmed they were dealing with an increasing number of abandoned vehicles on expressways.
Rather than getting off and losing their place in line, people relieved themselves by the side of the road, as traffic continued crawling ahead. Traffic was so slow on Interstate-45 North that reporters were able to walk from car to car along the freeway to interview drivers.
By early this morning, Harris County emergency evacuation officials were reporting drive-times in hours, not the usual minutes. TV monitors showed gridlock on every outbound freeway.
On Interstate-10 west of downtown Houston, a trip that normally takes 20-minutes was estimated to take six hours. A usual 10-minute trip between two major interchanges in Interstate-610 took an hour.
The west loop from the Galleria to Interstate-45? Five hours.
"There's nothing you can do. I'm scared to death," said Jan Collins, a resident of Kemah, north of Galveston, who started north with her children at 2 a.m. By 7, she was still in north Houston.
"We've seen a lot of cars that have overheated, broken down. There's no gas here. I've got a half a tank and I hope it gets us far enough away.
"But I don't know."
Shea Lamoix, 34, said while most gridlocked drivers have been polite so far, as the storm grows closer he fears that panic will spark road rage. "I want out now, before it gets ugly," he said. "And at this rate, it's going to get really ugly."
Hugo Baranza, who was evacuating far south Houston with his pregnant wife and small child, sat stranded at a closed gas station in north Houston. Out of gas.
A man in a Chevrolet Suburban sitting at a traffic light nearby honked. "No gas. I need a ride out. Please," Baranza yelled.
Come on, the stranger motioned. Baranza and his family shook hands and piled in.
The Suburban then turned onto a northbound I-45 access road. And quickly stopped in traffic.
source: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/09/23HOUSTON.html
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Sept. 23, 2005, 8:05PM
LETTERS

Rita, Katrina and Houston

Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Some fuel for her thoughts
WE were all ready to evacuate, but we saw the problems with doing that: The traffic was not flowing. There was no place to fuel up. We had nowhere to go.
The thought of being better prepared next time gives me fuel for thought.
The leaders should have had tankers standing by at all escape route service stations. In my opinion, this is the major problem: Getting out on the road and getting stuck in your car with no gas and no place to get gas. We are staying in the area for all of these reasons.
We hope we can communicate with everyone again after the storm. Good luck to all!

VIRGINIA DAVENPORT Pasadena
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He's waiting on Bush's knock

ME? I'm staying. I live in West University Place, a wealthy neighborhood with lots of donors to the Republican Party. I figure that President Bush will personally knock on my door and save me.

JOE ROUSMANIERE Houston
source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3367241

Hurricane Rita

updates here...

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Bush's Texas "Turd Blossom" @ Work !

Posted on Fri, Sep. 16, 2005

Lawyer's firing came after call from Rove
BY WAYNE SLATER
The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove personally called the Texas secretary of state about a newspaper story quoting a staff lawyer about whether Rove was eligible to vote in the state.
The lawyer was subsequently fired.
Secretary of State Roger Williams said that he decided to dismiss the lawyer after talking with Rove but that the White House adviser didn't request that he do so.
"Absolutely not," said Williams, a longtime supporter of President Bush and a major GOP fundraiser.
"Karl called me. He had read the article and wanted to know if it was our stance" that his voter registration status in Texas might be in jeopardy, he said. "I told him it wasn't and that the person who gave that opinion was not authorized to do so."
The call to Williams came at the height of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, the weekend after the storm struck. Rove was involved in the early White House response and subsequently has been a leader in the federal government's reconstruction effort.
Elizabeth Reyes, 30, was terminated Sept. 6 after being quoted in The Washington Post three days earlier saying it was potential vote fraud to register in a place where you don't actually live.
Reyes said that she was answering a hypothetical question, that she didn't know she was talking with a reporter and that Rove's name never came up. The Post acknowledged that Rove's name was not mentioned but said the reporter did identify herself as working for the newspaper.
Reyes said she was told she was being terminated for violating an agency policy against talking to the media.
Scott Haywood, a spokesman for the secretary of state, said employees may take "routine press calls" but must refer media inquires to the communications director if they involve "controversial matters" or an opinion or interpretation of agency policy.
Williams, asked about the reasons for Reyes' dismissal, said: "That's a personnel matter. I don't really want to discuss it."
In Texas, state employees can be terminated at will. Reyes told The Post she had asked for her job back.
Rove, the longtime Bush adviser who orchestrated his campaigns for governor and president, has sold his home in Austin and claims as his voting residence two cottages associated with a bed-and-breakfast in Kerr County. The arrangement is permitted under state law, Williams said.
White House spokeswoman Erin Healey said Friday that Rove called the Texas secretary of state seeking clarification on the state's voting requirements.
"Karl's a friend of mine, so when he read something in the paper, he called," Williams said. "Naturally, he had a way to get hold of me, as we're friends. He wanted to know if that's where we stood on the issue, and that was that."
Texas law provides that residents may continue to claim property in the state as a voting residence if their intent is to return. Rove owns a house in Washington and recently built a home in Florida.
The cottages in Texas were part of the River Oaks Lodge that Rove and his wife, Darby, once owned on the Guadalupe River near Ingram. They sold the lodge in 2003 but kept the two cottages, which the bed-and-breakfast rents to guests.
The cottages and one-third-acre lot are appraised at $57,258. According to the lodge's brochure, one cottage rents for $200 a night and the other for $120 a night.
Williams, a Weatherford, Texas, car dealer, raised at least $100,000 for Bush's 2000 presidential campaign and in 2004 was among the elite tier of Bush Rangers, who each raised at least $200,000 for the president's re-election.

© 2005, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
source: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/nation/12667485.htm
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ROVE AND FIRED STATE OFFICIAL

When will public wake up to hypocrisy?

Re: "Rove called Texas official – Bush aide talked to secretary of state before staff lawyer lost her job," Saturday news story.
So an attorney in the Texas secretary of state's office gives out public information about a state law to a reporter, and after a call from Karl Rove, the attorney is fired.
Meanwhile, high-ranking officials within the Bush administration – allegedly Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – give out classified information about a covert CIA agent to several reporters. More than two years later, nobody has lost his job, and the administration tries to sweep the story under the rug.
When will the American public wake up to the Bush administration's hypocrisy?
Andrew Lillie, Grapevine

One call does all: Now that's good service

I am glad to know that anyone can pick up the phone and reach Texas' secretary of state. No dealing with local officials, no being put on hold, no being directed elsewhere.
And if you are unhappy with someone in his office, you do not have to ask to have that person fired. He apparently will sense your dissatisfaction and just take care of it.

Jack C. Ramsey, Wichita Falls

Is your newspaper afraid of Rove, too?
Re: "Hits and Misses – Bully-style politics," Saturday Editorials.
"Why should someone lose her job over answering a question?" You can find the answer to that your on Saturday front page. Can't anyone at The Dallas Morning News spell "abuse of power"? The Bush administration reeks of it – in particular anything connected with Karl Rove.
What puzzles me is why you never take him on. I guess you're too afraid of him. You might even be right.
Jae Grenier, San Angelo

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/DN-wedletters_0921edi.ART.State.Edition1.13a5b87e.html

Across Texas: As it is !

Rusk County woman in jail after telling police she killed husband

By JIMMY ISAAC and MIRANDA HARRIS
Monday, September 19, 2005

A Rusk County man died early Sunday after his wife said she shot him.
Sheriff's investigators say the woman called emergency officials around 5:30 a.m. to report that she had shot her husband. Deputies responded to a residence in the 3900 block of Rusk County Road 292 East and found the man in his bathroom. He was pronounced dead after being taken to Laird Memorial Hospital in Kilgore.
Sheriff's investigators would not release the couple's names or the type of gun used.
Family members, however, said the man was the Rev. David Daniels, pastor of Fredonia Baptist Church near Tatum, and that his wife, Sharon Daniels, was being held at the Rusk County Jail.
She will be arraigned today in Henderson.
"I don't know. I'm bumfuzzled," the suspect's mother, Mary Rossum, said while waiting outside the jail Sunday morning. "But when I heard what had happened, I knew Sharon was involved."
Longview Independent School District Superintendent Dana Marable said a teacher named Sharon Daniels works at McClure Elementary School, but she said she didn't know whether that is the same person suspected in the shooting.
"I think we are just going to have to wait and see if we are officially contacted," Marable said. "If we are, I will meet with my people in human resources, and we will develop a plan."
News of the fatal shooting spread quickly through the Fredonia church community, about eight miles southwest of Tatum.
"We're all shocked and saddened. You wouldn't expect that to happen here right here at home at our church," said church member Dean Centers. "I know when you get up on Sunday morning, that isn't what you expect."
Daniels had been Fredonia's pastor for two years, said member Shirley McCoy. "I'm sorry for both parties ... I'm sorry for Sharon," she said.
Centers said the couple "looked good" on the surface when they joined Fredonia's church in 2003, but added that he later noticed problems.
"I knew they were having some difficulties but not to that extent," he said. "You just wouldn't think it would come to this."
The couple was married in April 2002, his family said. Rossum said the marriage was her daughter's second and David Daniels' fourth.
David Daniels also worked at Bradshaw State Jail in Henderson and was a Kilgore Independent School District bus driver.
His sister, Kathy Kennedy, said her brother had helped her with a garage sale at her home on Dudley Road until about 7 p.m. Saturday. Kennedy and David Daniels' father, Orell Daniels, of Dallas, said they both received an e-mail chain letter from Sharon Daniels about 6:45 p.m. Saturday.
Neighbor Irene Portley, who lives across the street from the residence, said the shooting was the second time law enforcement had been called there.
source: Longview News Journal
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Jury selection begins in prison rape case
Man suing 7 Allred officials for allowing sex abuse

By Trish Choate/Times Record News
September 19, 2005
A federal judge questioned 82 potential jurors today for a prison sex-slave lawsuit about how they felt about homosexuals, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Attorney General's Office.
"I'm standing here with a homosexual being represented by the ACLU against the state of Texas, and I don't see how I couldn't have a bias," one potential juror said. "But I think I could overcome it."
Jury selection for the well-publicized case was expected to last all day today in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Texas in Wichita Falls.
Roderick Keith Johnson is suing seven Allred Unit officials.
Johnson, a 37-year-old gay man, claims he suffered daily rapes and that prison gangs forced him to be a sex slave or die for 18 months, according to the lawsuit filed in 2002.
Prison officials ignored his pleas to be moved to safety, taking "sadistic pleasure in his victimization," according to the lawsuit. Allred officials also discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation, according to the lawsuit.
Allred officials have denied his allegations. Lawyers from the Texas Attorney General's Office are representing them because the officials work for the state.
The seven Allred officials include Richard E. Wathen, Tracy Kuyava, Tina Vitolo, Jimmy Bowman, Onessimo Ranjel, David Taylor and Tommy Norwood.
Johnson was serving time after bouncing a $300 check caused his burglary probation to be revoked, according to previous Times Record News reports.
Only two potential jurors didn't answer the summons today, officials said.
Attorneys will select 12 jurors and two alternates, according to court records.
Federal Judge Barbara Lynn questioned potential jurors all Monday morning. She said that Johnson contends he was especially vulnerable in prison because he is gay.
Two potential jurors said they disapproved of homosexuality for religious reasons and didn't believe they could find in favor of Johnson.
Wichita Falls had a prior experience with ACLU lawyers during a controversy over two children's library books that dealt with homosexuality, "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "Daddy's Roommate," according to previous TRN reports.
In 2000, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional a library policy the City Council approved in response to the two books. The ACLU had sued on behalf of 19 residents who protested the policy.
Today, the judge said she planned to turn questioning over to lawyers Monday afternoon.
Johnson, now out of prison, is seeking damages for physical injury, emotional pain, degradation, humiliation and psychic trauma, according to the lawsuit.
Projects Reporter Trish Choate can be reached at (940) 763-7533, (800) 627-1646, Ext. 533, or via e-mail at choatet(at)TimesRecordNews.com.
source: http://www.timesrecordnews.com/trn/local_news/article/0,1891,TRN_5784_4092762,00.html
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Civil suit filed against five defendants in Linden beating case

By SHEILA FLYNN
Associated Press Writer
DALLAS — A lawsuit was filed Monday by a civil liberties group on behalf of a mentally disabled black man who suffered permanent brain damage after he was beaten and dumped in an East Texas field.
Four white men already have faced criminal charges in Cass County for the 2003 incident. Two entered plea deals and juries recommended suspended sentences for the other two, sparking criticism from civil rights groups alleging racism within the justice system.
"We're seeking compensation for serious and permanent brain injury suffered by Billy Ray Johnson at the hands of these four white thugs, who received little or no criminal punishment for their actions," said Morris Dees Jr., chief lawyer of the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Montgomery, Ala.-based civil liberties group filed the suit in Cass County District Court.
Johnson, 44, who functioned at the mental level of a child at the time of the attack, was found unconscious on a fire ant mound.
Authorities said the Linden resident suffered a serious concussion and bleeding in the brain when one of the defendants,Christopher Amox, punched him and he collapsed. The assault occurred after Johnson was lured to a pasture party, plied with alcohol and taunted for the defendants' amusement, authorities said.
Johnson now lives in a nursing home and is unable to walk without help or speak clearly.
Criminal charges were filed against Amox, 20, John Wesley "Wes" Owens, 22, Dallas Stone, 19, and James Cory Hicks, 26.
Owens and Stone pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony charge of injury to a disabled person by omission. Hicks was found guilty of that charge, but Amox was acquitted of the felony and convicted of misdemeanor assault.
All were fined and sentenced to probation and jail time, but none served more than 60 days behind bars. They could have faced up to 10 years in prison on the original charges.
The civil suit names all four men as defendants, as well as Lacy Dorgan, a woman who was present at the party.
Dorgan declined comment Monday and attempts to reach the other defendants were unsuccessful.
Dees said he hoped the suit would secure some justice for Johnson after the Cass County legal system "let him down."
"I do believe that once the good people of Cass County know the real facts in the case — and have an opportunity to see the serious injury caused to Billy Ray — that they'll return a substantial verdict and compensation for his permanent injuries," Dees said.
source: www.wacotrib.com

Would *these Quotes be Allowed @ Baylor or Pulled off the shelves ?

Coffee cups with gay author's quote pulled from Baylor Starbucks

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WACO, Texas -- Coffee cups with a gay author's quote about growing up homosexual have been pulled from Baylor University's Starbucks coffee shop.
Dining contractor Aramark pulled the cups earlier this month from the campus store following an e-mail sent to Baylor's dining service, saying the quote was inappropriate at a Baptist University.
Aramark, which oversees the coffee outlet, consulted with Starbucks' district office and removed the cups to avoid offending others, Baylor officials said Monday.
"My understanding is it was a decision made by Baylor dining services staff, and I've not yet been able to trace it back to any Baylor administrators telling them point-blank to pull the cup," Baylor spokesman Larry Brumley said. "I think they were trying to be sensitive. Obviously, Baylor is a Baptist-affiliated institution, and Baptists as a denomination have been pretty outspoken on the record about the denomination's views about the homosexual lifestyle."
The quote from novelist Armistead Maupin reads:
"My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short."
Concerned Women for America, a national Christian women's organization, says Starbucks, which is based in Seattle, is promoting a homosexual agenda with the cup.
Cade Hammond, president of the board of directors for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Central Texas, said he sees pulling the cups as unnecessarily restrictive.
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Information from: Waco Tribune-Herald, http://www.accesswaco.com
source: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=TX%20Baylor%20Coffee%20Cups
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What does this blogger have to say about it ?

blog on steve...

* WWKD ?

EDITORIAL

When Texas politics begin to smell, open window

EDITORIAL BOARD
Sunday, September 18, 2005

More than 750 taxpayers received $461 million in tax credits and refunds from state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn's office within a year of her receiving a campaign contribution from them or a related entity, according to a recent report from the state auditor. Their campaign contributions, made within that year, totaled $2 million.
Strayhorn says she did no tax favors for contributors, and the auditor's report said it was "not implying any wrongdoing" by any taxpayers, their representatives or the comptroller.
Nevertheless, the findings smell bad.
One company that represents taxpayers in disputes with the comptroller's office, Dallas-based Ryan & Co., contributed nearly $790,000 to Strayhorn from 1999, when she took office, through last year. So far this year, its officials have given her $351,000, according to reports to the Texas Ethics Commission.
Strayhorn is challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary. Perry kept a straight face as he intoned that the auditor's report was "very troubling" because the public trust was at stake.
He's right.
But the comptroller is not the only Texas officeholder who takes money from those who benefit directly from his or her decisions. Take the governor, for example.
Over the past two years, telephone company interests — primarily SBC Communications Inc. — gave Perry $156,000 in campaign contributions.
On Sept. 7, Perry signed a major telecommunications bill favored by those interests and hotly opposed by the cable industry, which had given him only $25,000 over the same period.
Did Perry sign the bill because the telephone companies paid him more in campaign contributions? Not according to the governor's office, which said he signed it to attract investment in technology and create greater competition for video, cable and telephone services.
The state auditor says the Legislature should consider barring a person or business representing taxpayers before the comptroller from giving campaign contributions to the comptroller or any candidate for the office. Not a bad idea, but why stop there?
Why not ban lawyers and law firms with cases before the state's courts from contributing to judges or judicial candidates on those courts? Why not bar state representatives and senators from representing, for pay, clients with business before state agencies — or stop them from voting on any bill with a direct impact on any of their campaign contributors? The problem exists among virtually all elected state offices.
This is not to excuse the flow of interested money to Strayhorn, or to ignore Perry's archness. Rather, the problem is that political candidates, including incumbents, must raise heaps of money to get their messages out in a state as large as Texas. Texans aren't likely to support public financing of political campaigns, and there's no demand to limit the size of campaign contributions.
To safeguard the public interest, Texas has relied primarily on full disclosure of who is contributing and how much. On that score, the auditor had other recommendations, including requirements that taxpayer representatives register as such with the Texas Ethics Commission, and that the comptroller set up its own registry of taxpayer representatives.
A comptroller's registry would make it easier for a future auditor — or prosecutors — to link tax representatives to a comptroller's campaign contributors to determine whether illegal favors were exchanged.
Texas voters ought to at least know where the smell is coming from.

source: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/18strayhorn_edit.html
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* WWKD - What would *Kinky Do ? As in Kinky Friedman, Independent Texan, running for Texas Governor !

Brownwood Reunion, Texas Festival Attendance #'s & Texas Economy Poll

Sunday September 18, 2005
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor

Reunion being priced out of reach for many

To the editor:
I would like to voice my and many people's opinion regarding the changes implemented to the Reunion Celebration this year.
First of all, like everything Brownwood has offered in the past, this looks to be becoming just another commercial venture.
Is it not enough to entice people into our community to patronize our businesses, restaurants, hotel/motels, and retail stores just to enjoy the boost to our local economy? Did the community not benefit from the first Reunion when most activities were free to the public?
Apparently not. Now we will see if we can price people out of wanting to, or being able to attend.
What is with the chairs in the main concert area costing $2? Is this real? After paying $30 for a ticket, I will not be supplied a seat? Can a person bring their own chairs? I see this question answered nowhere in the "Guest Information" on the Web site http://www.brownwoodtx.com/event/event_guestinfo_05.asp.
I would like to know what some of the community-wide projects and events are that require us to overcharge visitors to Brownwood in this way.
I think that we are going to do OK this year, because the majority of people do not yet understand what is going to happen when they come, but I think on Sunday morning you will find a lot of negative opinions. Next year's participation will reflect this year's actions and so on until like most things in the past that start out as a positive and sincere idea in Brownwood, it will become unproductive due to the community's greed.
Now the board can say that the reasoning behind the "partitions around," and the "alcohol sales inside only" is for control and safety, but every single person I have talked to think it is for revenue. Are they all that out of touch with the community that they aren't aware that people think this?
Forgive me, but my first thought on safety due to glass containers is first, to inform the community not to have them, and second, to strategically supply more trash containers,
As far as control, where are the police? The constables? The county deputies? Can we not hire private citizens for security? Is it not illegal for minors to consume alcohol anytime, anywhere, or just at the Celebration, where we can now hide behind a partition and act like it isn't happening?
My Lord, what is going to happen at the Coliseum Diez y Seis celebration with no control or safety in place?
If you really want to do something about safety and control, ban alcohol all together and enforce it. Why not? I for one would rather enjoy the open, free entertainment I enjoyed when Pat Green was the featured artist, rather than listen to hypocrites with alcohol.
I have changed my mind. I will not participate in the Reunion Celebration this year. Enjoy my $30. You will not get anything more from me or my family this year.

Joe Hunt
Brownwood
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/09/18/op_ed/letters%20to%20the%20editor/letter01.txt
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Fair Numbers Down
Vendors lament smaller crowds

By Blanca Cantu / Reporter-News Staff Writer
September 18, 2005

As the 2005 West Texas Fair & Rodeo came to a close on Saturday, the conversation topic of choice was the drop in attendance compared to last year.
Saturday was the last day for fairgoers to enjoy funnel cakes, carnival rides and livestock at the fair, and some vendors were disappointed by the low turnout.
John Tombaugh, co-owner of Holiday Farms from Lampasas, has been coming to the fair for seven years. He said he's not sure if he'll be back next year.
He said the 12-hour days are rough, and business is down 15 to 25 percent. He has seen bigger crowds in the past - to the point where the aisles are too crowded to get through.
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4089944,00.html
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Thousands close Gregg County Fair

By GABRIEL D. BROOKS
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Longview News Journal

Tens of thousands of people were expected amid a sea of sounds and aromas Saturday evening at the Gregg County Fair.
Fair manager Billy Clay said that attendance was slightly down from last year, but plenty of people still showed up during the fair's first four nights, and another 35,000 to 40,000 were expected Saturday.
"We haven't had any problems," Clay said. "We've had zero incidents since we started Tuesday night.
"We anticipated attendance to be a little down because of the economic impact of fuel and the hurricane and everything else, but it's been real peaceful, calm out here, and everybody's been behaving themselves."
-----------------
Poll: Many Texans not happy with economy
By Tim Eaton / Scripps Howard Austin Bureau
September 19, 2005

AUSTIN - Job prospects are getting worse. There's greater dissatisfaction at work. People are less optimistic about their financial situation. And confidence in the economy remains low.
Those are the conclusions of many Texans in the most recent Scripps Howard Texas Poll.
Sixty percent of Texans rate the nation's economy as fair or poor, compared with 39 percent who say it is excellent or good.
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4091678,00.html
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Tuesday September 20, 2005
Op Ed: Letters To The Editor
Brownwood Bulletin

Fireworks scheduling was a fiasco

To the editor:
This was sent to Gary Allan's Fan Club Web site via the Internet:

Dear Mr. Allen:

Shame on you! The fireworks for the Brownwood Reunion (September 17) were scheduled for 9:40 p.m., and as a result of your ego, the fireworks were postponed until 1 a.m. The fireworks were scheduled for the community to enjoy. There were many children as well as elderly citizens, who were patiently waiting for the festivities to begin, and there they sat at 10:40 p.m., way beyond their bedtimes. My family and I asked a volunteer as to the time when the fireworks were to begin? I am glad we asked. We were told that the fireworks were now scheduled for 1 a.m., after your concert was over, because you had demanded it, despite numerous requests from the city to keep the events as planned. We have family here from New Orleans -- displaced due to Katrina, and we were all looking forward to this part of the celebration. It would have really lifted their spirits, as they, nor we could afford to see your concert. So I guess, the old adage, of "every party has a pooper that's why we invited you!" sadly holds true in this case. We hope and pray that you and your ego are not invited to next year's Reunion!

Gregory and Joanne Finney

Lake Brownwood

P.S.: We went today to see the alligator show. Cancelled. Due to the heat. How about buying some bags of ice, and placing them in the water? Too easy. Another big disappointment to a very lousy, mis-managed, poorly communicated "Reunion." We think this city should just stop at Year Five while they are behind!
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/09/20/op_ed/letters%20to%20the%20editor/letter01.txt

Who's Playing " What if " ?

Letter to the Editor from the Abilene Reporter News

What if ?
September 16, 2005

When I was a little girl, we played a ''what if'' game. So, let's play!

What if there was no political party and every one voted for the person and what he or she stood for? What if the president's son or daughter served in Iraq and was wounded or came home in a flag-draped box? How would he feel? What if there weren't any large oil companies to control the cost of oil and gas? What if Congress had to live on minimum wage? What if employers had to live on the wages they pay their employees? What if senior citizens didn't have to decide between food and medicine? What if CEOs worked because they loved it, not for the millions they make? What if we loved our enemies as much as God loves us? What if we treated our loved ones everyday as if there was no tomorrow?

Maybe we should be as children and play the ''what if'' game again.

Peggy Vaughn
Lawn

source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/op_letters_editor/article/0,1874,ABIL_7984_4084391,00.html

What's going on ? Brownwood to Strawn

Around the Big Country 09.16.05
September 16, 2005

Brownwood

Book signing: Texas photographer Wyman Meinzer will sign copies of his books from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at Steves' Market and Deli, 110 Chandler St. during the Brownwood Reunion Celebration. Meinzer also will be part of the Reunion Celebration Parade, which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Meinzer has published a number of books including ''Windmill Tales,'' ''Texas Sky,'' ''Desert Sanctuaries: The Chinatis of the Big Bend,'' ''Texas Quail,'' and ''Texas Rivers.''
His latest book, ''6666: Portrait of a Texas Ranch,'' depicts the drama of a working cattle ranch on the plains.

Buffalo Gap

Eating disorders: Overeaters Anonymous will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday and at 6 p.m. each Monday at the Shades of Hope Conference room. Anyone suffering from anorexia, bulimia or other eating disorders is welcome to attend.

Comanche

Homecoming: Comanche homecoming is today. The ''Ex-Students'' annual hamburger supper at Comanche High School Commons begins at 5:30 p.m. ($5). The football game between the Comanche Indians and the Mineral Wells Rams begins at 7:30 p.m.
Reunion: The Comanche High School class of 1955 will have its 50th reunion Saturday at the high school commons. Breakfast will be served at 8 a.m. at Karen's Diner, followed by registration at 10 a.m. Snacks will be available at 11 a.m.
A tour of the museum and/or winery, and class photos will take place during the afternoon. A barbecue dinner will be served at 6 p.m., followed by entertainment and a video featuring the 1955 football game.

Cottonwood

Benefit: Cottonwood Volunteer Fire Control is having a garage sale and bake sale from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Cottonwood Community Center.
Half the proceeds from the event will benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Desdemona

Benefit: A benefit barbecue and auction begins at 5 p.m. Saturday at the community center for Meagan Holder.
Megan was diagnosed with atrial aeptal defects and will undergo heart surgery at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth. All proceeds from the benefit will go toward her medical expenses.
Cost is by donation. Take-out orders will be available.

Snyder

Tournament: The White Buffalo Festival horseshoe tournament is scheduled at 9 a.m. Saturday on the west side of the courthouse square. Entry fee: $10. Registration begins at 8 a.m.

Strawn

Jamboree: The Strawn Third Saturday Jamboree begins at 6 p.m. at 610 Grant Ave. Concessions open at 5:30 p.m. Free admission.

source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_lc_big_country/article/0,1874,ABIL_7953_4085196,00.html

In the News......

A sausage -- looted or not -- lands elderly church leader in prison
01:41 PM CDT on Thursday, September 15, 2005
Kevin McGill and John Solomon / Associated Press
KENNER -- Merlene Maten undoubtedly stands out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, now sleeps among hardened criminals. Her bail is a stiff $50,000. Her offense? Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck.
Family and eyewitnesses have a different story. They say Maten is an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat but was wrongly handcuffed by tired, frustrated officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store. Not even the deli owner wants her charged.
"There were people looting, but she wasn't one of them. Instead of chasing after people who were running, they grabbed the old lady was who walking," said Elois Short, Maten's daughter, who works in traffic enforcement for neighboring New Orleans police.
Short has enlisted the help of the AARP, the senior citizens lobby, the Federal Emergency Management Agency legal assistance office, made up of volunteer lawyers, and a private attorney to get her mother freed. But the task has been complicated.
Maten has been moved from a parish jail to a state prison an hour away. And the judge who set $50,000 bail by phone -- 100 times the maximum $500 fine under state law for minor thefts -- has not returned a week's worth of calls, her lawyer said.
"She has slipped through the cracks and the wheels of justice have stopped turning for Mrs. Maten," attorney Daniel Beckett Becnel III said.
read the entire article here: http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl091505sausage.5e3b6f64.html
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Weldon: Atta Papers Destroyed on Orders

By DONNA DE LA CRUZ, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 11 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday.
The employee is prepared to testify next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee and was expected to name the person who ordered him to destroy the large volume of documents, said Rep. Curt Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa.
Weldon declined to name the employee, citing confidentiality matters. Weldon described the documents as "2.5 terabytes" — as much as one-fourth of all the printed materials in the Library of Congress, he added.
to read the entire article please visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050915/ap_on_go_co/sept11_hijackers
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Few people trust politicians, global survey shows

By Paul Majendie
Reuters
Thursday, September 15, 2005; 11:46 AM
LONDON (Reuters) - Trust in politicians is abysmally low around the world and most citizens say their governments do not reflect the will of the people, according to an intriguing global survey of what influences our lives.
"Who Runs Your World?" was the question put by Gallup International and the BBC World Service to more than 50,000 people in 68 countries in what was billed as one of the biggest surveys of public opinion ever conducted.
Religion is crucial in Nigeria, family is vital in Latin America and the Japanese distrust authority figures.
One of the most striking findings was international disillusionment with politicians. They achieved extremely low confidence ratings, with only 13 percent trusting them.
Two out of three people polled around the globe felt unrepresented by their governments.
The exceptions were South Africans, Israelis and Scandinavians. Most of these believed their governments were in tune with the people.
There was a global desire to put more power in the hands of intellectuals such as writers and academics, the survey showed.
As technology shrinks the world to a global village, patriotism is still a strong force, with feelings of national identity strongest in Latin America, Southeast Asia and East Africa.
Muslims and Protestants were the most likely to trust religious leaders and give them more power. Jews appeared to be the most positive about being able to change their own lives.
to read the entire article please visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR2005091501035_pf.html
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Man shoots himself after contest

LONGVIEW, Texas — A participant in an East Texas contest popularized in a 1998 documentary film left the event early Thursday, broke into a nearby store, retrieved a shotgun and killed himself, police said.
Richard Vega, 24, of Tyler, left the "Hands on a Hardbody" contest at Patterson Nissan around 6 a.m., about the time that a break was called, said police Sgt. Carlos Samples. The rules of the contest require participants to lay one hand flat on a truck at all times. The contestant who holds out longest drives the truck home. The contest was in its third day.
Vega crossed the street to a Kmart, broke the glass in the front door, climbed through, then went to the sporting goods department and took a 12-gauge shotgun, police said. Officers called to the scene were coming in the front of the store as Vega approached from the back.
Vega was ordered to drop the weapon, Samples said.
"He took a few steps back and actually fired the gun at himself and killed himself," Samples said.
The officer said police don't know why Vega committed suicide. Samples said he was unaware of any prior dispute or altercation at the contest, which was canceled.
Vega was not disqualified when he left the contest, said Steve Burnette, who was providing security for the auto dealership.
"This has been a tragic event for Ricky Vega and his family along with the other contestants and everyone at Patterson Nissan," said Burnette, reading a statement from the dealer's managers.
Mary Flores, a cousin of Vega's wife, said in a story in the Longview News-Journal's online edition that Vega "had no reason to do this at all."
"Everything in his life was going good. Everything," she said as she gathered with other family members outside th store where he died.
She said Vega had promised his wife he would win the Nissan truck. The top prize this year also would have included a pop-up camper. The newspaper reported that Vega had dropped out of the contest last year because of a family emergency.
Filmmaker S. R. Bindler made a documentary of the competition in 1995. "Hands on a Hardbody," the movie, traces the humor and heartbreak of the days-long event. The longest contest took 126 hours in 2000.
The dealership said the future of the contest hasn't been decided.
__
September 15, 2005 - 8:12 p.m. CDT
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/hp/content/gen/ap/TX_Contest_Suicide.html
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BROWNWOOD REUNION CELEBRATION AWARDED

The “Hands on a House” contest that premiered at the 2004 Brownwood Reunion Celebration was named best new event at the Texas Festivals and Events Association’s annual conference held recently in Grapevine.
In total the 2004 Brownwood Reunion Celebration received five awards, and, besides the best new event recognition, also received awards for the best media stunt, best media campaign, best media kit and best sponsor packet.
Since its beginning four year’s ago, the annual Brownwood Reunion Celebration has earned 13 awards, said Randee Green, executive director for the annual “feels like home” event.
“That’s against some stiff competition,” Green said, “such as the Pasadena Strawberry Festival, Rio Fest, Borderfest and Neiman Marcus Christmas Parade.
“Our community has so many things to be proud of, the Brownwood Reunion Celebration just adds one more to the list,” she said.
The Hands on a House contest, which will have its second annual competition at this year's Brownwood Reunion Celebration, allows for 20 men and women to compete for an 80-square-foot playhouse, built by local building company Seymore Construction.
Coldwell Banker Don Johnson-Mark Campbell and Associates employees will again judge the event all weekend.
The concept of the contest is relatively simple. Contestants place one hand on the house and as they take their hand off, they are out. The last remaining contestant will win the house.
In 2004, Olivia Tobias Cantwell, a product safety analyst, planner and scheduler at 3M, outlasted 18 others competing to win the playhouse by keeping her hands on the playhouse for 32 hours, 25 minutes.
source: http://www.brownwoodtx.com/event/event_media_05.asp

Hands on Contest Stress Testimony :

listen here...

follow story here...

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Young: Let the profiteering begin

Thursday, September 15, 2005
John Young Opinion page editor
Waco Tribune-Herald
Quick action after storm? Yes, if buck is to be had

Judge for yourself if President Bush on Tuesday issued a mea culpa or a they-a culpa.
Whatever the case, the seed of political ingenuity germinates afresh in the post-Katrina implication: Government failed. All of it.
Sounds like a theme. Go to video. To serve the people, you just can't trust government.
You can, however, trust your friendly private contractor.
How many more New Orleanians would be alive today were National Guardsmen there as quickly as Halliburton and Bechtel?
Reports of FEMA awarding, lickety-split, no-bid contracts to various favored corporations for Katrina relief put the lie to the notion of bureaucracy in molasses.
When there's patronage to be done and profit to be had for political friends, see this government move.
The inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday said he would scrutinize the no-bid contracts. If this inquiry alters even one of those contracts, I'll buy gumbo for everyone.
Speaking of corporations: Rapidly on the scene in New Orleans was Blackwater USA, the security firm, called a mercenary force by many, that has become an add-on branch of the military in Iraq.
The Washington Post reported that Blackwater would supply security to FEMA posts in Louisiana. Mother Jones online described Blackwater employees toting assault weapons, patrolling the streets in New Orleans, claiming they were deputized. By whom?
Government can't be trusted. But you can trust armed individuals answering to a board of directors in Moyock, N.C. Don't have a National Guard? Hire one.
Meanwhile, in the “rebuilding” front, some sobering news is going to greet the thousands of small businesses decimated by the storm: the recently passe bankruptcy reform bill.
Democrats on Capitol Hill urge that victims of Katrina get a year grace period from the stiffer new laws aimed at curbing abuse of bankruptcy.
Republicans say the bill has enough flexibility to do justice to extreme individual circumstances.
Let's see for how many of these small businesses a bill sculpted by credit-card companies is a double whammy that makes the rebuilding of the coast much more onerous.
And when it comes to helping these small businesses, as Washington says it will do, we'll see which businesses really benefit. How many will be time zones away from Katrina?
The Associated Press recently connected the dots of a host of loans dished out by banks under a program aimed specifically at 9/11 victims.
While AP spoke to small-business owners in New York City who couldn't get loans, it uncovered loans to an Oregon winery, a South Dakota radio station and a perfume shop in the Virgin Islands, among others.
To get that result, we put our trust in our friends in big business – private lending institutions – to handle that money, apparently with little oversight.
What's the alternative to trusting big business? Trust a government of, by and for the people?

John Young's column appears Thursday and Sunday. E-mail: jyoung@wacotrib.com.
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/09/15/20050915wacyoung15.html
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State & Local | 4/1/2005

Detective investigated in child porn complaint
By Nikki Buskey

A detective with the Austin Police Department is under investigation for allegations that his home computer was used to e-mail child pornography after complaints were made by an Internet provider to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Lance McConnell, a veteran of APD's alcohol control team, has been placed on restricted duty with pay by the department while the investigation is conducted by the attorney general's office.
Tom Kelley, a spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott's office, said officers confiscated McConnell's laptop computer, several compact disks and diskettes and a Web cam from his Lockhart home on March 23 to conduct a forensic investigation into the allegations.
A Caldwell County judge ordered that McConnell's two children be removed from his home Wednesday by Child Protective Services as a result of the investigation.
read the entire article here: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410/news/2005/04/01/StateLocal/Detective.Investigated.In.Child.Porn.Complaint-909375.shtml
UPDATE:
Former Austin police detective guilty of possessing child porn
McConnell had hundreds of images and movie clips on his computer
By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, September 15, 2005
A former Austin police detective pleaded guilty to seven counts of child pornography in federal court Thursday, admitting that he possessed on his personal computer hundreds of images of male and female children engaged in sexual acts.
----
McConnell is a former Lockhart City Council candidate and had been a member of the city's planning and zoning commission until he resigned on April 4.
McConnell had been on the Austin police force for seven years, most recently assigned to investigate illegal alcohol sales, before he was fired after a grand jury handed up an indictment against him in May.
At the time, Assistant Police Chief Rick Coy called the allegations a "a great embarrassment" to the department.
"A case of this sort tarnishes everyone in the department," Coy said.
read the entire article here: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/09/16plea.html
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Pledge Of Allegiance History

as it is...

----------------
Letter to the Editor
Ft Worth Star Telegram
Posted on Wed, Sep. 21, 2005

'Divisive' words in the pledge

Karen Gavis suggested in her Saturday letter ("The words in the pledge") that some people might want to "dig up this country's Founding Fathers and put dunce hats on their heads."
For the record, the motto "In God we trust" first appeared on the short-lived 2-cent coin in 1864, and the addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance was made in 1954. So if someone is to be unearthed and displayed with dunce hats, it wouldn't be the Founding Fathers.
I find myself wondering if these same people would protest if Muslims became a majority and voted for the words "one nation under Allah" as part of the pledge.
It was for this reason that the Founding Fathers (Thomas Jefferson, in particular) came up with the concept of separation of church and state. The majority should not impose its beliefs on the rest of the population. Why is that so difficult?

Barney C. Boydston
----------
From the first through eighth grades, I recited the pledge first thing in the morning, facing a flag, hand over heart. The pledge took on special meaning in December 1941, when we kids actually started to think about the words as we said them.
The flag itself brought Betsy Ross and George Washington to mind. We knew, or were told, the meaning of republic -- a special place where citizens choose their leaders by voting, a gift from those fellows who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence and created the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln spoke to us through "one nation, indivisible."
When I was in college, the words "under God" were inserted and separated "one nation" and "indivisible."
On the rare occasion when I spoke the pledge, I skipped those words -- not because I objected to them for any religious reason, but simply because they interfered with the rhythm.
Somehow, President Eisenhower's voice was interrupting Lincoln's. But I guess we all liked Ike so much that we went along with it.
Like a good dad, he and Congress were trying to inoculate us against communism. They probably never thought that those words might offend non-Christian citizens, whose philosophies called God something else, or saw him differently.
But they needn't have worried, because the last six words of the pledge -- "with liberty and justice for all" -- are enough. If we can all pledge ourselves to them, God won't mind if the word God is left out. The pledge is full of him; it always has been.

Jo Kern
--------------------

When I learned the pledge (a long time ago), it flowed from "one nation" to "indivisible."
It served the United States well during World War II, when our country was truly "one nation indivisible." Inserting the words "under God" between "one nation" and "indivisible" completely changed the meaning of the pledge and divided the people rather than uniting them.
One of the reasons that the Pilgrims and other early settlers left their homes and came to America was a longing for religious freedom. We shouldn't allow their dreams to be destroyed by denying religious freedom to some of our citizens.
The wall between church and state must be preserved if the dreams of our ancestors are to be fully realized.
The words "under God" should be removed, returning the pledge to its previous content and meaning.

Margaret Stone
source: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/local2/12702041.htm

Brownwood Diamonds or Kidney Stones ?

Gold standard prices?

Kidney stones cost more than diamonds today
By NEIL D. ROSENBERG
Posted: Oct. 2, 2004

You really want to give your beloved a valuable rock? Forget diamonds. Try a kidney stone.
It won't be quite as pretty. A calcium oxalate kidney stone, the most common, is a yucky brownish-black with a sort of pockmarked surface - like a tiny moon or an ugly, magnified grain of sand.
But it sure is expensive.
The one I passed recently cost $4,351.15. And that was for a less-than-three-hour visit to the local hospital emergency room during which I received pain medication (thank you very, very much for that); an efficient and professional physician examination (which concurred immediately with my own self-diagnosis since it was my third stone in the past 25 years); a CT scan (which confirmed the stone's presence and two others waiting in the wings, one in each kidney); an assortment of blood and urine lab tests and the physician fees (emergency room doctor and radiologists).
I passed the stone while I was still in the ER, on my own. So that part was free.
But to put that $4,351.15 bill into perspective, let's return to the diamond analogy.
My kidney stone was roughly (pun intended)
3 millimeters in diameter. A one-carat, round-shaped diamond is roughly 6.3 millimeters in diameter or more than twice as large.
A medium-quality diamond of that size will actually cost about $4,200. I know this because I recently went through the confusing and time-consuming process of trying to buy a one-carat diamond, an experience only slightly less painful than passing a kidney stone.
That one-carat diamond, based on the "value" of a kidney stone less than half its size, would actually cost more than $9,100.
The term "gold standard" is often used in medicine to denote the best accepted medical treatment. At $400 an ounce, gold is a bargain compared to kidney stones and diamonds. This country may at one time have been able to afford the gold standard, but the standard to which medical charges have now risen is just too high.
In the 1970s, when I became a medical reporter, the amount of health care costs as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (the cost of all goods and services in the United States) was in the 5% range, and already there were concerns it was too high.
In fact, President Nixon, not known as a progressive by any standard, actually instituted wage and price controls in the health care industry. They ultimately failed. As my colleague Leon Hughes put it, "You can control a physician's fees, but not his income."
That's a succinct way of saying that the health care industry, maybe even more than the defense industry, has an uncanny ability to adapt to any playing field to extract revenue from the pockets of Americans at almost unprecedented rates.
That 5% of GDP for health care costs in the 1970s morphed into 8.8% in 1980; 12% in 1990; 13.2% in 2000 and an estimated 15.3% in 2003. That equates to a jump of 36% between 1980 and 1990, and 50% between 1980 and 2000.
But it is much worse when you look at per capita health care costs, the costs for every man, woman and child in the United States after dividing total costs by total population.
In 1980, it was $1,067; in 1990, $2,738; and in 2000, $4,499 (eerily close to the cost of my one kidney stone). That's a percentage jump of 322% between 1980 and 2000.
I am not saying that I was gouged by the hospital that treated me. I am sure their charges are in line, more or less, with similar hospitals in similar areas across the country. It is just too much. Period.
The villains are easy to spot, depending on who you listen to: greedy drug companies; too many hospitals that act too much like General Motors and not enough like the Salvation Army; technology run rampant (my CT scans accounted for nearly $2,200 of the charges); too many lawsuits; underfunded government health programs that shift costs to the insured; too many uninsured people who drain hospitals, physicians and labs of resources; too many medical mistakes that needlessly kill and maim tens of thousands annually, and a slovenly public that can't or won't pursue more healthy lifestyles.
But the biggest problem may well be an electorate that has done little to put pressure on the presidency, Congress, states, health insurance firms, drug companies, medical associations and hospitals to rein in the rising costs.
I always thought throughout my career as a reporter and editor that there would come a point when health costs would rise to a level where the public would have enough and revolt. I thought it would be when health care costs reached 10% of the GDP. Then 12%. Certainly 15%.
But it was not to be. Maybe it's now - when kidney stones cost twice as much as diamonds.

Neil D. Rosenberg is a Wisconsin and Florida writer who was the medical reporter for The Milwaukee Journal.

From the Oct. 3, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
source: http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/oct04/263314.asp

Did these folks grow up Reciting "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance ?

Marsh & McLennan Executives Indicted
Thursday September 15, 8:09 pm ET
By Michael Gormley, Associated Press Writer

Eight Former Marsh & McLennan Insurance Executives Indicted in Bid-Rigging Investigation

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Eight former executives at Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc. were charged with felonies in indictments unsealed Thursday in New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation of bid rigging and price fixing in the insurance industry.
The former executives were accused of colluding with brokers and executives at major insurance companies to arrange noncompetitive bids for corporate customers of Marsh & McLennan, the nation's largest brokerage, based in New York.
The indictment said the former executives allegedly set a "target" figure for the predetermined winner to bid after obtaining losing "B quotes" from other participating companies to mislead customers.
"These are very senior executives within the Marsh hierarchy," Spitzer said. "Not only was it wrong, it was harmful to the economy ... There is simply no responsible argument in favor of rigging bids, stifling competition and cheating."

to read the entire article please visit:
http://www.rawstory.org/

As it is and as it relates !

DeLay associates indicted in investigation

05:35 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Associated Press

AUSTIN – Two associates of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were indicted Tuesday on additional felony charges of violating Texas election law and criminal conspiracy to violate election law for their role in the 2002 legislative races.
The indictment was the latest from a grand jury investigating the use of corporate money in the campaigns that gave Republicans control of the Texas House.
In Texas, state law prohibits using corporate contributions to advocate the election or defeat of state candidates.
The two men indicted Tuesday, Jim Ellis, who heads Americans for a Republican Majority, and John Colyandro, former executive director of Texans for a Republican Majority, already faced charges of money laundering in the case. Colyandro also faces 13 counts of unlawful acceptance of a corporate political contribution.
The money laundering charges stem from $190,000 in corporate funds that were sent to the Republican National Party, which then spent the same amount on seven candidates for the Texas Legislature.

to red the entire article please visit: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/091305dntswdelay.11452601.html
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Editorial: Texas money train

--
Waco Tribune-Herald Editorial
Monday, September 12, 2005

The Texas Association of Business says it's all about free speech.
The Travis County district attorney says it's about breaking the law.
Texas law forbids corporations from donating to state political campaigns. TAB was very active in trying to influence the 2002 Texas statehouse races. Indeed, it raised $1.7 million.
Thursday it was indicted on 128 counts.
TAB said its money went to “voter information” efforts. Prosecutors assert that the efforts were clearly meant to assist individual candidates and torpedo others.
Because the law remains rife with loopholes that the 79th Legislature failed to address, a criminal case will be hard to make. But at least groups seeking to evade the law now know they might have to face a judge.
Whether directly or laundered through a group like TAB, corporations should not be allowed to buy themselves a Legislature.
source: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2005/09/12/20050912wacedits12.html

What's going on in the Hallways of "The Peoples House" in Austin Texas ?

DPS balks at releasing House videos, cites safety

09:18 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 13, 2005
By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Attorney General Greg Abbott's office says the Department of Public Safety must release security camera videos taken during the House's fierce debates over school vouchers last May.
DPS says disclosure of the tapes could jeopardize security at the Capitol. It filed a lawsuit this month to block their disclosure.
The Texas Observer, a biweekly publication that says it "promotes democratic participation and open government," requested the tapes.
Jake Bernstein, executive editor of the Observer, used the state's open records act to seek videos of a hallway behind the House chamber.
He asked for tapes recorded between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. on May 23 – the day the House narrowly rejected legislation that would have allowed some students to transfer to private schools at state expense.
Mr. Bernstein said Monday he hoped to verify or refute reports that wavering House members "were pulled off the floor to meet with" Dr. James Leininger, a San Antonio businessman and major GOP donor who has strongly advocated vouchers.
On May 23, The Dallas Morning News reported that Dr. Leininger had met with House members at the Capitol on the night before the voucher issue was debated, urging a "yes" vote.
Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman, said release of the videos would give away "placement of cameras" and other confidential aspects of Capitol security.
"We have a problem with that," she said.
E-mail rtgarrett@dallasnews.com
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/legislature/stories/DN-dps_13tex.ART.State.Edition1.e6cb21f.html

"Colored" Brownwood High School Diploma

"Colored" Brownwood High School Diploma
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

Brownwood Jones Soda

Brownwood Jones Soda
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

Hope to see some Brownwood Photographers photos used on the labels of Jones Sodas in the very near future. Have you seen their label page ? Go here http://www.jonessoda.com/files_new/yrlab.html

"It Takes A Village"

"It Takes A Village"
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

Ad in the Sunday September 11, 2005 Brownwood Bulletin page 7a.

The Children: Brownwood to Clarksfield Township

Eleven Children Found Caged in Ohio Home
Sep 12, 9:46 PM (ET)

CLARKSFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) - Sheriff's deputies found 11 children locked in cages rigged with alarms Monday in a north Ohio home.
The children, ages 1 to 14, were in cages in the walls of the home in Clarksfield Township, about 50 miles west of Cleveland. They had no blankets or pillows, according to the Huron County Sheriff's Office.
The children were taken to Fisher-Titus Medical Center. No information on their conditions was available late Monday.
Sharon and Mike Gravelle are adoptive or foster parents for all 11 children, officials said.
The Gravelles do not have a listed telephone number.
Few additional details were available late Monday. Prosecutors were reviewing the case, but no charges had yet been filed.
---------------
Police: Two children living in home minus water, electricity
Steve Nash
Brownwood Bulletin
page 3 Monday, September 12, 2005
A Brownwood police officer found two dirty children, covered with bug bites and living in a home without water or electricity, when he was dispatched to a home in the 300 block of Greenleaf Thursday evening for a welfare check.
Officer Aaron Taylor contacted Child Protective Services and was told a CPS investigation was already under way, and that a CPS official would be at the home the next day, Taylor's report states.
A man at the home told Taylor he is unemployed and no transportation for the children. The man who would not allow Taylor inside, told the officer the water and electricity had been off for two weeks, Taylor's report states.

One reason I'm a NRA Member.........

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2005
www.nraila.org

Disaster Can't Destroy Gun Rights
(Fairfax, VA) -- National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre slammed New Orleans authorities Monday for seizing legal firearms from lawful residents.
"What we've seen in Louisiana - the breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of disaster - is exactly the kind of situation where the Second Amendment was intended to allow citizens to protect themselves, " LaPierre said.
"When law enforcement isn't available, Americans turn to the one right that protects all the others - the right to keep and bear arms," LaPierre said. "This attempt to repeal the Second Amendment should be condemned."
The New York Times reported last Thursday that no civilians in New Orleans will be allowed to have guns, quoting the superintendent of police that "only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons."
A Louisiana state statute allows the chief law enforcement officer to "regulate possession" of firearms during declared emergencies. "But regulate doesn't mean confiscate," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist.
"Authorities are using that statute to do what the looters and criminals could not: disarm the law-abiding citizens of New Orleans trying to protect their homes and families," Cox said.
"The NRA will not stand idly by while guns are confiscated from law-abiding people who're trying to defend themselves," he said.
"We're exploring every legal option available to protect the rights of lawful people in New Orleans," Cox said, "and we're taking steps to overturn such laws in every state where they exist."
"Local authorities in New Orleans are turning nature's assault on human life into man's assault on human rights," LaPierre said. "Four million NRA members intend to stop this unconstitutional power grab."
--nra--

Established in 1871, the National Rifle Association is America's oldest civil rights and sportsmen`s group. Four million members strong, NRA continues its mission to uphold Second Amendment rights and advocates enforcement of existing laws against violent offenders to reduce crime. The Association remains the nation`s leader in firearm education and training for law-abiding gun owners, law enforcement and the armed services.

A vulnerable nation, four years after Sept. 11 attacks

EDITORIAL
Austin AMerican Statesman
EDITORIAL BOARD
Sunday, September 11, 2005

All the tough talk about disaster preparedness that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington was blown away by Hurricane Katrina.
The sluggish and confused response by government at all levels exposed huge holes in disaster planning and preparation. An argument could be made that a natural disaster is different from a terrorist attack, but only a fool would believe it.
The effects of either are the same. There are the dead and wounded who require immediate attention and the need to repair or replace the damage to property later.
Moreover, the hurricane gave would-be terrorists a good look at the nation's soft spots. If terrorists had ruptured the New Orleans' levees with well-placed explosives, the effect would have been the same.
The prime difference is that Hurricane Katrina gave warning. Terrorists usually don't.
The vulnerability of U.S. dams has long been known, as was the relative weakness of New Orleans' system of levees.
It makes you wonder just what we learned in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. Airport security has been tightened so much that one comedian jokes that he's been pulled out of line so often he answers to the name "Random Search." Like all humor, the joke contains some truth: Freedom of movement that we used to take for granted is no longer.
Moreover, the road followed by the United States after 9/11 led to a divisive war in Iraq, which has led to loud debates — not to mention courts martial — over how to treat prisoners.
Just how secure are we? That's the overarching question bedeviling contemporary America. There has been a lot of motion, but has there been any movement toward that elusive security we crave after 9/11? How big is the gap between how ready we think we are and how ready we really are?
Our nation has spent billions of dollars in a frenzied rush to buy anything labeled "homeland security" and aimed at helping those affected by the attacks.
Late last week, an Associated Press report revealed that $5 billion slotted to help small businesses and companies recover from the terrorist attacks went to businesses as far from Ground Zero in New York as Oregon.
The AP quoted James Munsey, a Virginia entrepreneur, as being "beyond shock" to learn that a $1 million loan he used to buy a special events company in Richmond came from the 9/11 fund. "That's scary; 9/11 had nothing to do with this," Munsey said.
With the emotional outpouring unleashed by Hurricane Katrina, the potential exists — as there always is after any sort of disaster — for the hucksters, scammers, con artists and the greedy to grab as much as they can.
You can't legislate changes in human nature, perhaps, but you can mandate changes in bureaucratic behavior.
Before 9/11, the lack of communication between the FBI and the CIA was famous. The agencies started talking after a sound and deserved thrashing from Congress. The problems inherent in a huge Homeland Security bureaucracy were exposed by Hurricane Katrina. That suggest that the consolidation some — including us — thought was a good idea in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 proved unwise.
In the past four years, we've seen the horror of worst cases up close in the 9/11 attacks and in the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
There is still an opportunity to learn from 9/11, so let's not ignore it.
We can start by refusing to buy just anything labeled "relief" just for the sake of spending money. We tried that after 9/11, and the money bought neither wisdom nor peace of mind.

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/11sept11_edit.html
-------------------
Kurt S. Wolz:
We're no safer today
By KURT S. WOLZ
Guest Commentary

MY CONNECTION with 9/11 is personal. I am a pilot for American Airlines. In September of 2001, I had AA Flight 11 on my flying schedule. As you may recall, AA Flight 11 was the first airplane hijacked. It subsequently impacted the north tower of the World Trade Center. I lost a friend and fellow pilot, Capt. John Ogonowski, that day. I also knew purser Betty Ong and the rest of the cabin crew. I could have been the copilot who perished that day.
On the four-year anniversary of 9/11, I would like to give you my summation as to what progress our leaders have made in ridding the world of terrorism, and in "bringing to justice" the perpetrators of that horrendous terrorist attack on our homeland. And that is — no real progress. The world is now a much more dangerous place and Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida are still "alive and well."
I remember President George W. Bush standing on the pile of rubble that used to be the WTC, with his bullhorn, his arm over a New York City firefighter, proclaiming to all that the United States will get whoever did this to us and bring them to justice. Instead, it became an opportune moment for him, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz to pursue their own agenda, which they had when they came into office and were dying to execute. George W. Bush used 9/11 as an excuse for his personal war in Iraq; and, as it turns out, is not serious about the "War on Terror" at all.
The reason I say this is because his attempt to capture or kill Osama bin Laden has been lame at best. He delegates the enemy (Pakistan) to hunt for the enemy. Instead, al-Qaida has once again "reared its ugly head," this time with subway bombings in London. Let's face it, our President and all his men have failed the world in bringing these terrorists to justice.
As we have subsequently learned, through the 9/11 Commission Report and from sources no longer inside the White House, George W. Bush, upon taking office, simply refused to heed the warnings from the outgoing administration that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida were the greatest threat America faced. According to Paul O'Neill, at Bush's first National Security Council meeting, the topic of discussion was Saddam Hussein, who had essentially been "contained" ever since the first Gulf War. And, as Richard Clarke said, as summer approached and reports of an imminent attack on the United States became more frequent, no one did anything!
Condoleeza Rice later testified that there were no specifics — "when, where, who." This is the same person who had the gall to say "we don't want a smoking gun to become a mushroom cloud" in reference to Saddam Hussein. Not one meeting was held to address the escalation of threats of an attack on our homeland.
As we know now, there was no evidence to back up the "mushroom cloud" statement and proceed with starting the war in Iraq. No WMD, no proof of a purchase of uranium from Niger, no aluminum tubes, no mobile weapons labs, no proof of coordination with al-Qaida, no imminent threat to the United States, and no mission accomplished.
What we are coming to learn, through numerous sources including the "Downing Street Memos," is that Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Rice knew this before they started their war in Iraq. They deliberately misled us all into believing them. We would have been at war with Iraq even if 9/11 did not occur. What the war has become is a waste of U.S. lives and taxpayer dollars and a breeding ground for more and smarter terrorists. Also, U.S. companies in Iraq, with close ties to the Bush administration, are engaged in blatant profiteering. Is it just a coincidence that Iraq is said to possess the second largest oil reserves?
All I can say is that I am tired of being lied to by an administration that has zero credibility. I am hoping that in 2006 Democrats win back control of Congress and open their first session with impeachment proceedings of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, because the Republicans refuse to do so.
Kurt S. Wolz of Bedford is a pilot for American Airlines.

http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=60243

Texas Association of Business: Any of these emails/fax's sent to Brownwood ?

TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS
Business group solicits legal aid
State association's board member claims organization thriving despite indictments.

By Laylan Copelin
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Facing criminal charges, civil litigation and as much as $7 million in damages and fines, the Texas Association of Business is urging its members to renew their memberships and to donate to an expensive and lengthy legal defense.
The plea for help was sent out by e-mail and fax shortly after a Travis County grand jury on Thursday indicted the organization on 128 felony counts of violating Texas election laws. It comes amid speculation that the legal war might splinter the state's largest business lobbying group.
Ron Luke, a health care consultant who is a member of the association's executive committee, said Friday that it is thriving and that the job of its president, Bill Hammond, is secure. He said the letter was just a call for money for the "extraordinary expense" of the association defending itself.
"I'm sure people will chip in and be sure we have the resources to defend ourselves," Luke said.
It was Hammond, a former Republican state representative from Dallas, who turned the association into a political player during the 2002 elections by soliciting and spending $1.7 million, mostly from insurance companies, to send 4 million mailers to voters in 24 pivotal legislative districts. Hammond boasted after the election that the association used its "unprecedented show of muscle" to help elect Republicans who would oppose new taxes and support limiting lawsuits against businesses.
State law bars spending corporate money on campaign activities, but TAB officials contend that the mailers were issue ads educating voters about issues without advocating the election or defeat of any candidates.
The ads, however, either touted the records of TAB-backed candidates or criticized the Democrats it opposed. TAB's legal defense is centered on the argument that the mailers never used so-called magic words, such as "support" or "oppose."
TAB already has spent three years fighting lawsuits filed by Democratic candidates who lost in 2002 and fending off prosecutors trying to investigate the organization and discover the identities of its 30 corporate donors to the mailing effort.
Thursday's indictments pushed TABinto a new era.
"We are writing to you on a matter of extreme urgency and importance," the solicitation letter to TAB members began.
TAB officials denied breaking election laws, saying everything they did was reviewed by lawyers before it was mailed.
Although Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle has described secret corporate money in Texas elections as a threat to democracy, TAB's letter said the association is fighting for the free speech rights of all Texans.
"This is the heart and sole (sic) of this case: will TAB and other groups and organizations be able to communicate with the public or will the only source of information be left to the news media?"
TAB officials said Earle's prosecution will silence critics of public officials.
"We face a well-funded opponent who has an unlimited supply of money — your hard earned tax dollars," the letter continued. "So, please consider a contribution today."
Under state law, TAB would face a maximum of almost $2.6 million in fines if convicted on all 128 felony counts. Damages under the lawsuits could amount to $3.4 million.
The association has 2,500 employer-members and 200 member chambers of commerce with an annual operating budget of $2.3 million, Luke said.
"Our membership has been growing," the TAB board member said. "And we've met our budget the last five years."
Luke said there is no discord within the organization over the indictments. He said any disagreements over the association's legislative battles over the future of state taxation are to be expected when employer-members have different economic interests.
As for as he is concerned, Luke said Hammond's job is not at stake: "He has clearly made the association a force in state politics and been an effective voice for business."
Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct political action committee, was also indicted this week on two counts of illegally accepting corporate money.

lcopelin@statesman.com; 445-3617
source: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/09/10tab.html
--------------

as it is...

-----------------
EDITORIAL

Does Earle have a grand plan in illegal contributions case?

Advertisement

EDITORIAL BOARD
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Maybe Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle and the grand jury investigating allegedly illegal donations in the 2002 state political campaigns have a good reason for indicting organizations and not individuals.

Maybe there is a grand strategy here. Several people involved with a $100,000 contribution from a nursing home association during the 2002 campaign have been indicted by another grand jury. One person who hasn't been indicted is Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, who accepted the check.

Maybe there's a plan to offer immunity for critical testimony, or more indictments to come later. But time is running out, and on the face of it, the felony indictments returned last week against the Texas Association of Business and the now non-existent Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee are disappointing.

After all, the decisions to solicit secret corporate money to fund political campaigns in Texas and the efforts to obtain it were made by individuals. All involved in those decisions knew state law prohibits spending corporate money on political campaigns, but they devised a strategy to try to skirt that law.

TAB President Bill Hammond, board member Mike Toomey, John Colyandro with Texans for a Republican Majority and others were using secret corporate contributions to run a political campaign. Earle was bold enough to investigate two powerful political organizations, but indicting them — and not the people behind them — is puzzling.

A reckoning might still come. Civil suits against TAB for its 2002 campaign shenanigans are going forward, and the financial liability for that arrogant operation could be substantial.

As complicated as the investigations and civil suits have been, they hang on a simple question: DID the TAB's campaign violate a state ban on corporate spending for politicking for or against candidates?

The biggest fiction in this three-year-long ordeal has been TAB's assertion that it was only informing voters, not supporting candidates. That's the group's only defense, of course, for raising and spending corporate money in secret, but it doesn't match the facts.

TAB spent $1.7 million in secret corporate money to defeat mostly Democrats and elect Republicans to the state Legislature.

Its 4 million mailings listed candidates by name and attacked them in print. It was endorsing some candidates and attacking others, and no amount of protestations to the contrary changes that fact

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/09/11tab_edit.html

Football Hazing: What kind of adults protect Bullies ?

Four former Donna athletes charged with sex abuse

EDINBURG, Texas — Four former Donna High School football players have been charged with sexual assault in connection with locker room hazing allegations by five freshmen players.
The athletes — Derick Anthony Castillo, 18; Jacob Leal, 17; Manuel Josue Rivera, 19; and Raynardo Jaime Magallanes, 19 — are accused of holding down and trying to insert a gloved finger into the anuses of the victims.
The hazing followed off-season football practices, when freshman students worked out with the varsity team, school district officials said. The indictments issued last week said the abuse occurred four separate times between Aug. 7, 2004 to Feb. 15, 2005.
Earlier this year the Donna School Board fired head football coach and athletic director David Evans, head baseball and assistant varsity football coach Alfredo Holguin Jr. and head freshman football coach Robert D. Gracia over the matter. The board said the coaches tried to keep the hazing accusations quiet.
The accused students were expelled and sent to an alternative school for juvenile offenders, Superintendent Joe D. Gonzalez said.
If convicted, at least two of the teens charged could be required to register as sex offenders, including Castillo, the former star quarterback who faces nine counts, the most of any player.
The charges against the players range from criminal attempt of sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child by contact and criminal attempt sexual assault. Since the freshmen were under age 17, they are classified as child or minor victims.
Criminal attempt of sexual assault is punishable by two to 10 years in prison. Indecency with a child by contact carries a sentence of two to 20 years in prison and enrollment in the Texas Sex Offenders registry.
___
Information from: The Monitor, http://www.themonitor.com
source: http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/gen/ap/TX_Hazing_Students_Charged.html
-----------------
Donna schools face challenges
September 10,2005
Brittney Booth
The Monitor

Grand jury indicts ex-football players

EDINBURG — A Hidalgo County grand jury indicted four members of the 2004 Donna High School football team on charges of felony sexual assault and indecency with a child, stemming from hazing incidents that rocked the district’s athletic program school last year.
Derick Anthony Castillo, 18; Jacob Leal, 17; Manuel Josue Rivera, 19; and Raynardo Jaime Magallanes, 19, are accused of sexually assaulting five young men under the age of 17 during four separate incidents between Aug. 7, 2004, and Feb. 15. The grand jury issued the indictments Thursday in the 370th state District Court. If convicted, at least two of the teens could be required to register as sex offenders.
The alleged assaults were part of hazing and initiations the four Redskins players inflicted on underclassmen. The hazing followed off-season football practices, where nearly a dozen freshman students worked out with the varsity team, according to school district officials.
As a result of the incidents, the school board fired head football coach and athletic director Dave Evans, head varsity baseball coach Alfredo Holguin and head freshman football coach Robert Gracia in March.
Castillo — the former star quarterback — faces the most charges:
Four counts of criminal attempt of sexual assault of a child, four counts of indecency with a child by contact and one count of criminal attempt sexual assault. The indictments allege Castillo assaulted four boys, telling one he was going to rape him and holding the victim down while he tried to pull down his shorts and put his latex-gloved finger in the boy’s anus. In another incident, Castillo is accused of sneaking up behind one boy while he showered, touching his buttocks and trying to put his finger in the boy’s anus.
Described as popular and praised for his athletic prowess, Castillo never had any behavioral problems, according to the Donna High School principal at the time the scandal broke.
Former starting defensive lineman Magallanes is facing two counts of criminal attempt sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child by contact for the hitting, holding down and trying to stick his finger in the anus of two victims.
Rivera and Leal are charged one count of criminal attempt sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child. The indictments accuse Rivera and Leal of assaulting the same victim, and each are accused of holding the boy down, striking him and trying but failing to put their finger in his anus.
Criminal attempt of sexual assault is a third degree felony punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. Indecency with a child by contact is a second degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, a fine up to $10,000 and enrollment in the Texas Sex Offenders registry.
District Attorney Rene Guerra said his office will interview the victims and meet with the accused men to determine a conclusion. It is the policy of The Monitor not to publish the names of victims of rape or sexual assault. Most of the victims were freshman and 14 or 15 years old when the assaults took place.
"We need to look at the gravity of the conduct. We need to evaluate the strength of the evidence," Guerra said. "We will try to assess a reasonable negotiation from our perspective."
Superintendent Joe D. Gonzalez on Friday declined to comment on the indictments, beyond confirming that at the time of the incident, the students were expelled and sent to the McAllen Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program.
"I did not know (about the indictments,)" said Gonzalez. "We were not formally notified; they’re not our students anymore."
The Hidalgo County District clerk’s office assigned all four cases to suspended state District Judge Rodolfo "Rudy" Delgado’s 93rd state district court. Most of Delgado’s criminal cases are heard by one of the two auxiliary court judges, or are assigned to another state district judge. The teens should be formally arraigned within a month, said Joel Espinoza, the 93rd court coordinator.
Both Castillo and Magallanes have assault charges pending in county courts-at-law. Castillo’s attorney, Jesus M. Villalobos, and Magallanes’s attorney, Robert Williams, did not return phone calls. Leal and Rivera could not be reached for comment, and it was not clear if they had already retained attorneys.
The Donna athletic program is struggling to recover its reputation.
A Texas Education Agency report released in June revealed hazing went on for several years and alleged coaches know of and tolerated sexual assaults occurring in the men’s locker room.
According to the report, under the direction of former athletic director and head football coach Evans, female coaches were intimidated, certain athletes were given preferential treatment, and numerous occasions of "sexual exhibitionist behavior" and "assaultive behavior" were never reported to school authorities or law enforcement.
Evans had addressed Castillo for his sexual behavior on numerous occasions and had counseled Jacob Leal "many times about hitting or bumping other people."
The report said coaches "knew or should have known about the hazing/sexual assaults occurring in the men’s football locker room."
———
Brittney Booth covers courts and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683- 4437.

Monitor staff writer David Tijerina contributed to this report.

source: http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=9083&Section=Local
-----------
Mark Davis:
Hazing is sick
And pathetic, and stupid. So let's end all these 'traditions' already.
04:50 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 21, 2005
It's a very small number of people who know exactly what happened Aug. 27 at the house in Flower Mound now famous for a party that has pushed hazing back into the headlines.
Some horseplay and pranks among high school wrestlers – with their coach and adults present – either did or did not rise to a criminal level.
I'm sick of hearing about things like this. I have had it up to my eyeballs with the pseudo-macho sadism that so many people pass off as "tradition" or, my favorite, "boys just being boys."
Well, boys may be boys, but to whatever degree we have normalized and even glorified the intentional cruelty of hazing, we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Generations of athletes, frat boys and military men have endured hazing rituals, and many swear by them as a bonding exercise. Does that mean we're unable to bond, unable to forge friendships, team spirit, unit cohesiveness and toughness without submitting new arrivals to freakish exercises that humiliate, injure and sometimes kill?
Pathetic. Just pathetic.
First, I want to answer the readers who are shaking their heads at these last paragraphs, passing me off as some softie who just doesn't understand.
I understand perfectly. I understand that perpetuating hazing is not a sign of strength, but of weakness. Those seeking to break its sick cycle are marginalized because each generation had it done to them, and, doggone it, they're not going to be denied the thrill of handing it down to the latest crop of newbies.
Blind conformity is easy. A real show of toughness comes when would-be hazing victims step forward to say that enough is enough. The message should be: I am proud and eager to join your group, and I will work hard to be worthy, but I will not be locked in a trunk, forced to drink a quart of hard liquor or have my orifices probed by malicious peers.
Pardon that last reference, but that is reportedly what happened in Flower Mound as pranks grew darker and more shocking, according to witnesses, police and now an attorney representing two of the alleged victims.
This highlights another twist in the pro-hazing mentality, which would be comical if it were not so disturbing. If there is anything held out as a subject of ridicule in the testosterone-soaked world of hazing, it is effeminacy and the imagery of gayness.
Well, if all the wrestlers and frat boys are so hopped up to seek and punish the vestiges of gayness, why are they the ones with the endless bag of homoerotic tricks to pull on the new arrivals?
I once saw a college fraternity initiation in which upperclassmen gleefully enjoyed watching freshmen pass an egg from mouth to mouth down a line. Who was their rush chairman, Mr. Blackwell?
Back in Flower Mound, the wheels of justice will turn in an attempt to discover how bad things got at the party. The coach is basking in general support from the community, where he has a lot of backers who say he would not condone things getting out of hand.
But some say things got very out of hand. I don't know. I wasn't there.
But among those who were there, one faction says this is not just a hazing story, but a felony sexual assault story. Lining up on the other side are those quick to circle the wagons to protect a coach, 18 charged players and a sadly cherished tradition of doing brutal things to others for kicks.
If the charges have merit, I hope the punishment is swift and severe. If the charges are false, I hope exoneration is parceled out as deserved.
But in the larger sense, maybe this is an opportunity to take stock of a "tradition" that is stupid, hurtful and ultimately needless, and get rid of it so that we don't have to read stories like this anymore.
The Mark Davis Show is heard on News/Talk 820 WBAP and nationwide on the ABC Radio Network. WBAP airtime is 9 a.m. to noon. His column appears Wednesdays on Viewpoints, and his e-mail address is mdavis@wbap.com.

source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/columnists/all/stories/DN-markdavis_21edi.ART.State.Edition1.139b0b8c.html

Woman Charged $1,133 to Clip Toenail

Sep 9, 6:54 PM EDT
Woman Charged $1,133 to Clip Toenail

SEATTLE (AP) -- A lawsuit spawned by a $1,133 bill to clip a toenail and run some tests at a hospital has been certified as a class action.
The ruling this week in King County Superior Court could raise the stakes by millions of dollars in a consumer protection case brought by Lori Mill against Virginia Mason Medical Center.
Mill is challenging a $418 fee included in the bill for "miscellaneous hospital charges" because she had the work done at Virginia Mason's downtown complex rather than at one of the medical center's satellite clinics.
Virginia Mason officials say the downtown operation is authorized by Medicare to charge higher fees because it is licensed as a hospital, and they maintain that such charges are a standard industry practice.
Extending the lawsuit to cover other Virginia Mason patients who have been billed for such fees, Judge Gregory P. Canova said the main question is whether those charges were properly disclosed or were unfair or deceptive.
Trial is set for July 3. If Virginia Mason loses, the state Consumer Protection Act allows triple damages of up to $10,000 per patient who provides documentation of such a billing. The number of patients potentially affected was not immediately available early Friday.
Mill's lawyer, John Phillips, has obtained internal e-mail showing Virginia Mason doctors and staff have complained about the charges, court filings show.
One unidentified doctor who had a procedure on his own toe at the downtown complex e-mailed Virginia Mason chief executive Dr. Gary Kaplan last year after being billed $1,200, including a facilities charge of $1,138.
"I call it obscene," the doctor fumed. "There has to be some sense of appropriateness/fairness/reasonableness to our charges."
Another, Allan Kayne, a dermatologist, complained after one of his patients was billed for $1,361, including a $754 facilities fee.
"These charges are not only excessive but an embarrassment to me and the medical center," Kayne wrote.
---

Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com

Soldier: It’s OK to criticize Bush

Letters to the Editor for Thursday, September 8, 2005
Stars and Stripes
European and Mideast editions
(EDITOR’S NOTE: These are the letters that appeared in each edition of Stripes on this publication date. Click here to jump ahead to the Pacific edition letters)

It’s OK to criticize Bush

On Aug. 22, Stripes printed “Pro-Bush camp counters ‘peace mom,” (article, The Associated Press, European print edition; “Patriotic camp springs up to counter peace mom’s anti-war demonstration,” Mideast print edition), about about the “patriotic” camp intended to counter Cindy Sheehan.
The headline was the same as on the AP feed, with the description of the pro-war camp as “patriotic,” perhaps to indicate Sheehan is “unpatriotic.”
In 1918, during World War I, former President Theodore Roosevelt wrote an excellent editorial. In it, he addresses questioning the president during wartime. He said: “The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else.”
Whether you agree or disagree with his policies, you must never be afraid to question him; it’s patriotic. It’s essential in a free country that the citizenry be willing to question and criticize the president.
Saying “we should always stand by the president” is unpatriotic. If decisions must be made on which “camp” is patriotic, listen to Roosevelt.

Senior Airman John Nixdorf
Sather Air Base, Iraq
source: http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=31435
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as it relates to the Brownwood conversation...

Brownwood Civil Rights History

Brownwood marks 50 years since integration
By Celinda Emison / Reporter-News Staff Writer
September 9, 2005

Fifty years ago today, Allen ''Jim'' Reed earned a distinction in the Brownwood High Lions' victory over Stephenville during the first game of the football season.
The headline on the Abilene Reporter-News account of the game read ''Lions Trounce Stephenville; Negro in Tilt.''
Reed's role in the first game of the 1955 high school football season made him one of the first blacks to play on a previously all-white team in the Big Country and the state.
It's a distinction that has gone unrecognized over the years.
Earlier in 1955, in Brown vs. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for whites and blacks were unconstitutional. By the start of school in 1955, only a handful of area school districts, Brownwood being one of them, had decided to desegregate their schools.
Reed, now 68, and about 13 other students were the first blacks to attend Brownwood High. Reed, a Brownwood native who now lives in Wichita Falls, attended the R.F. Hardin School until his senior year in 1955.
Three of the first blacks to attend Brownwood High played on the football team.
''We really didn't know what to expect,'' Reed said. ''It was odd. I was surprised they accepted us.''
Reed remembers the game against Stephenville fondly. The newspaper article lauded his ''fine defensive performance'' during the second half of the Lions' 47-0 victory.
''It was really great to beat them that bad,'' he laughed.
Reed said he remembers several of his teammates, including Grady Chastain, now a Brownwood city councilman. Freddie Paul Williams and Charles Wilcox were the other two black players on the team.
Despite his contributions in the Brownwood-Stephenville game, Reed did not play all the games during that 1955 season. Back then, black players weren't allowed to travel with the team to away games, he said.
''That's just the way it was then,'' Reed said. ''Things were different in those days, and Brownwood was just a typical prejudiced town.''
Reed, a saxophonist, was also the first black student to play in the Brownwood High concert band, his wife Mary said.
Reed excelled in track. After graduating from Brownwood High, he tried to make the U.S. Olympic team, but decided to join the U.S. Navy ''to see the world.''
After retiring from the Navy in 1966, he worked as an electrician in a shipyard in Long Beach, Calif., until 1978. He later worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the aftermath of a tornado that hit Wichita Falls in 1979. Since then, he has worked for a glass manufacturing plant in Wichita Falls.
Reed married his high school sweetheart, Mary Bagley, in 1959 and the couple raised two girls and three boys. They now have 11 grandchildren.
The Reeds still have family in Brownwood and visit often and attend events for the restoration of the R.F. Hardin School.
But he still looks back on his days as a Brownwood Lion with pride.
''Overall, it was a really good experience,'' he said.

Contact Brownwood staff writer Celinda Emison at (325) 641-8804 or emisonc@reporternews.com.
source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/article/0,1874,ABIL_7959_4067230,00.html

Left Behind: The Pets are being shot in New Orleans !

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Friday September 9, 2005
News
Animal control officer Louisiana bound
By Candace Cooksey Fulton -- Brownwood Bulletin

Brownwood Animal Control Officer Nick Ferguson gets an approving lick from one of the dogs at the Brown County Humane Society Shelter. Ferguson will leave Saturday to volunteer with animal control services in Louisiana.
It won't be a dream vacation, but Nick Ferguson, animal control officer with the Brownwood Police Department, is ready and willing to go.
Ferguson received an e-mail Thursday from the Texas Animal Control Association, which has activated its Texas Animal Disaster System, and is "desperately seeking" volunteer animal shelter and field workers to go to Gonzales, La. According to the e-mail message, a command center at the Lamar Dixon Equestrian Expo Center at Gonzales has sheltered some 500 animals separated from their owners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and expects the number of animals to increase greatly in the coming weeks.
"Any volunteers coming to help need to be prepared to work," the e-mail warns. "We need ACOs (animal control officers) who can keep things as organized as possible."
Volunteers have been instructed to make sure their tetanus, hepatitis A and B and diphtheria shots are current before coming into Louisiana. Also, each volunteer's list of supplies includes hip waders or full body wet suits, several pairs of thick plastic gloves, mosquito repellant that contains DEET, bleach to disinfect/decontaminate items every day, possibly several times a day, hand cleaner with an alcohol base and at least 3 gallons of potable water for each day of their stay.
Additionally, volunteers are asked to bring, if possible, wire cages, large kennel crates and trucks used for animal control.
On Thursday, Ferguson was working out the details for his trip and said he did not know if he would be able to take paid leave from the Brownwood Police Department, or, if he would need to take vacation time. Either way, he said, he intends to leave on Saturday for Gonzales.
Cheryl Campbell, executive director for the Brown County Humane Society, said she was not surprised at all that Ferguson was ready and willing to help.
"We're so proud of him for volunteering, for doing what he can, and we'd like to help Nick," Campbell said. "Volunteers are having to take their own supplies, their own food, their own drinking water. They told him there would not be hotel rooms, so he'd need to bring his own tent and sleeping bag. He has some of the supplies, but there's a lot of stuff he's going to have to buy and we'd like to help."
Campbell said Thursday, some of those at the animal shelter and on the Humane Society Board had decided to start a fund to help Ferguson.
"If anyone wants to donate and can bring a check by the shelter at 3016 Milam Dr. by 5 p.m. today, Nick will have the money before he goes. But, that's not much time, so we're making arrangements to continue to accept donations during the shelter hours 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and we will deposit the money directly into Nick's account," Campbell said.
source: http://www.brownwoodbulletin.com/articles/2005/09/09/news/news01.txt
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Starving and stranded, the pets left behind in New Orleans
By Catherine Elsworth in New Orleans
(Filed: 06/09/2005)

Hundreds have drowned in the flood waters, their carcasses littering the city, and the yelps and cries of countless others echo through the deserted streets of New Orleans.
Thousands of pets are stranded and starving to death, their owners dead or forced to abandon them as they were evacuated to emergency shelters.
More than a week after the city was flooded, distraught owners have started coming forward to plead for information about the beloved animals they left behind.
Others had to watch their pets die - or in some cases, had to kill them themselves - after being told they could not bring them along in rescue vessels.
Outside the Louisiana Superdome, where evacuees sheltered in appallingly squalid conditions for up to six days, flood victims were told to leave behind their pets because they were not allowed on to rescue buses.
Now, 10 volunteers from the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have started visiting addresses where owners left animals. Often, they have to break in to save them as part of its "animal evacuations and recovery plans".
Special pet shelters have been set up with vets on hand to treat the survivors, many of whom have not eaten for days. Julie Anne Pieri, 29, an artist, sobbed as she described how she had been forced to abandon the cat she fled her home with and spent four days looking after in the heat and filth of the shelter.
Others refused to be evacuated without their animals. Diana Womble, who was picked up by boat six days after the flood waters surrounded her house, would not leave unless she brought her 15 cats.
Her rescuer told her no shelter would accept them and said that on the previous day they had been shooting the dogs they were forced to leave behind. Miss Womble held fast and her cats were eventually boxed up and loaded into the boat.
Gary Lee Mullins, 55, a lorry driver who was rescued after five days clinging to a tree, said he had to kill his beloved 16-year-old dachshund-chihuahua. He had saved her from the water, but was not allowed to take her with him. He said: "I could not leave her alive in the tree, she was too old to survive."
Donations to help animals are being received by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with pet supplies company Petco offering to match offers.
At the New Orleans aquarium, more than a third of the 4,000 fish died because there was no power to pump oxygen into the tanks.
But staff at the city's Audubon Zoo reported that only three of its 1,400 animals died as a result of the hurricane - two otters and a raccoon.
source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/06/wkat206.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/06/ixnewstop.html
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Pet rescuers race against time

By Peggy Mihelich
CNN
(CNN) -- On the flooded streets of New Orleans you can hear the dogs barking for miles. They are trapped -- in houses, on roofs, tied to porches. They are frightened and hungry.
For the pets left behind after Hurricane Katrina, relief is on the way, but it's a race against time.
"It's a dire situation," said Melissa Seide Rubin of the Humane Society of the United States.
Rescue workers are worried most about pets locked inside homes and whose food and water supply may have run out. For them, rescue is their only chance of survival.
"It's one at a time, and it's fairly slow work," said Michael Mountain, president and CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, one of the first animal organizations allowed into the city to rescue pets.
"They are certainly all frightened," Mountain said. "The most difficult ones to work with are the cats who hide under furniture. The dogs tend to be easier. You can put out a treat for them, you can generally bring them to you."
With federal agencies and law enforcement agencies overwhelmed with rescuing people, it has been left to animal welfare groups and civilians to help stranded pets.
"We weren't allowed into the really bad areas until just recently, so now we are playing catch-up," said Rubin, the Humane Society's vice president of field and disaster services.
The American Society for the Protection of Animals, the Humane Society, the Louisiana SPCA, and the Texas SPCA are involved in the operation.
The Humane Society has 200 people in the field to handle the more than 2,000 requests it has received from people who have called a hotline or sent information.
The rescues are being conducted mostly by boat. Teams using inflatable rafts locate stranded pets and take them to a drop-off point, where they can be transported to a shelter.
Since Tuesday the Humane Society has rescued 90 dogs and 34 cats. Mountain estimates his group has rescued between 800 and 900 animals since entering the city on August 30.
As soon as the pet arrives at a shelter it is photographed and checked for ID tags. The health of each pet is evaluated, and fluids and medical treatment is administered as needed.
The information is put into a database that pet owners and rescue groups are feeding information into and that the Louisiana State Veterinary Association is maintaining. Efforts are then made to contact the owner of the pet. Unclaimed pets will be sent to area shelters and made available for adoption.
Jo Sullivan, senior vice-president of communications for the ASPCA, said most of the rescued pets are in good health but are scared.
"We haven't seen anything worse than some minor abrasions, and mild dehydration and, of course, some dysentery from unclean water," she said.
At the Lamar Dixon Center in Gonzalez, Louisiana, 50 miles north of New Orleans, hundreds of people come every day looking for their pets.
For one man, forced to leave his pet when he evacuated, there's a sweet reunion with his dog, Miller.
"Daddy came and got you, didn't he," the man said to his dog as he gave Miller a rub on the base of his neck.
For the rescuers and volunteers seeing a pet reunited with its owner fuels their effort.
"When people have lost everything and if you can reunite them with their pets, it makes such a difference in their lives," Rubin said.
Not without my dog
In the desperate race to pull human survivors out of the flood, rescuers haven't been able to accommodate pets. Some people have refused to leave without them.
"When this thing happened, everybody was shooting at everybody. The only thing I trusted was my dogs. I'm not going to leave them," said Robert, a New Orleans man who would not give his last name.
"The government has to understand that people are not going to leave their pets," Rubin said.
"When someone won't leave their pet we try and be there at the same time so we can take it for them, so that they can be assured that they can be reunited at some point," Rubin said.
On Tuesday afternoon a man needing medical assistance held up a "fleet of ambulances" on the Interstate 10 exit to Causeway Boulevard because he refused to leave his dog, Mountain, of Best Friends, said. A nurse in the caravan called Best Friends to see if the group could help.
"By the time we got there, they had to wrench the dog from him," Mountain said. "They had a few others [dogs] as well. They tied up three of them and took off. We had the description and managed to get hold of all three."
While, many national organizations were held up at staging areas just outside the city, Best Friends had boats in the neighborhoods rescuing pets. On Saturday, with the permission of the Jefferson Parish sheriff, Best Friends workers "broke in" to a pet store and saved about 140 pets -- from hamsters to snakes to tarantulas to birds -- Mountain said.
Donations and help
Organizations involved in the rescue have gotten support in the form of donations of money, pet food and medical supplies.
"We've got stuff that was shipped in from well-wishers from all over the country," Mountain said. "Yesterday we got a pile of blankets that ran 15 feet high."
Nestle Purina PetCare shipped more than 33 tons of dog and cat food to the affected areas, spokesman Keith Schopp said.
"We are actually right now putting another donation together that will be coordinated through Louisiana State University," he said.
With supply needs met, agencies like the ASPCA and the Humane Society are turning their attention to the long-term needs of housing the displaced animals. Many shelters in the New Orleans area were destroyed by the hurricane or the flood that followed. They will need rebuilding.
"The best thing that people can do right now is donate dollars and let us buy what we need as we need it, Sullivan said.

CNN's Adaora Udoji and Christane Amanpour contributed to this report.
source: http://cnn.worldnews.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+Pet+rescuers+race+against+time+-+Sep+9%2C+2005&expire=-1&urlID=15471071&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2005%2FUS%2F09%2F08%2Fpet.rescue%2Findex.html&partnerID=2006

"Go f--- yourself Mr. Cheney!"

Published on Thursday, September 8, 2005 by Agence France Presse

Vice President Cheney Heckled on Hurricane Tour
"Go f--- yourself Mr. Cheney!"

Vice President Dick Cheney was confronted by an irate heckler when he toured the US Gulf coast region devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Cheney, who was sent to the region by President George W. Bush amid intense criticism of the federal response to the disaster, was briefing reporters in Gulfport, Mississippi on his impressions of the relief work when he was interrupted by a bystander.
"Go f---(expletive) yourself Mr. Cheney!" the unidentified man shouted. Then he repeated: "Go f...(expletive) yourself!"
Asked by a reporter if had encountered similar protests during his tour, Cheney replied: "That's the first time I've heard it."

Cheney famously used the same expression in a Senate confrontation with Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy over Cheney's links to defense contract giant Halliburton.

source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0908-10.htm
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Who is the person behind the message ?
Physician who told off Cheney lost home in Katrina, detained, selling video on eBay
by jacksonthor

Fri Sep 9th, 2005 at 12:34:13 PDT

By Jackson Thoreau

This originally ran on OpEdNews.com here.

Dr. Ben Marble, a young emergency room physician who plays in alternative rock bands and does art on the side, needs our help. Since he was the one who told Dick Cheney to "go fuck yourself" on Thursday, that's the least we can do.

Marble is a complex guy, to say the least. Some of the lyrics he writes can be considered harsh by some - personally what I've heard is very much on target - but he has a softer side as an organizer of breast cancer fund-raisers, not to mention an ER doctor.

When he, like thousands of others, lost his home due to Hurricane Katrina last week, it was the single most traumatic week of his life. That led to his confrontation with the man who best represents the worst of the most callous, heartless, shittiest administration in U.S. history on Thursday.

jacksonthor's diary :: ::
As Marble explains, he was driving to his destroyed house Thursday in Gulfport, Ms., when military police refused to allow him to cross a barricade that was about 200 feet from his home. They forced him to drive an extra 20 minutes and spend even more on gasoline.

"Thanks to Dubya Gump and Mr. Cheney, gas is really expensive and extremely hard to get anywhere Katrina has destroyed," Marble wrote. "So needless to say, I was extremely aggravated that they wouldn't let me pass."

Suddenly a long line of dark cars pulled up, and they honked at Marble to back up to let them through the barricade that supposedly no one could drive through. That only made Marble madder so he did what most of us would do - or at least consider doing.

"I waved a middle finger at the caravan," Marble wrote.

After driving the extra 20 minutes and filming video of destruction along the way, he made it to his home. Marble overheard a neighbor say that Cheney was down the street talking to people. That's when he got the idea to go meet Dr. Evil himself.

"I am no fan of Mr. Cheney because of several reasons," Marble wrote. "For those who don't know, Mr. Cheney is infamous for telling Senator [Pat] Leahy 'go fu** yourself' on the Senate floor. Also, I am not happy about the fact that thousands have died due to the slow action of FEMA, not to even mention the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time, i.e. Iraq."

So Marble asked a couple police officers if he and a friend could walk down to Cheney. They told him Cheney was "looking forward" to talking to "the locals."

"So we grabbed my Canon digital rebel and my Sony videocamera and started walking down the street," Marble wrote. "And then right in front of the destroyed tennis court I used to play on Dick Cheney was giving a pep rally, talking to the press. The secret service guys patted us down and waved the wands over us, and then let us pass."

As he stood about 10 feet away from Cheney and his friend and some camera operators from CNN and other media filmed the scene, Marble suddenly yelled, "Go fuck yourself, Mr. Cheney! Go fuck yourself, you asshole!"

Hey, at least Marble was polite. After all, he referred to Cheney as "Mr. Cheney."

"I had no intention of harming anyone but merely wanted to echo Mr. Cheney's infamous words back at him," Marble wrote. "At that moment, I noticed the Secret Service guys with a panic-stricken look on their faces, like they were about to tackle me, so I calmly walked away back to my former house."

His friend videotaped a little bit longer and then came back to Marble's house. As they were salvaging a few things from Marble's home, two military police waving M-16's showed up and said they were looking for someone who fit Marble's description who had cursed at Cheney.

"I told them I was probably the person they were looking for, and so they put me in handcuffs and 'detained' me for about 20 minutes or so," Marble wrote. "My right thumb went numb because the cuffs were on so tight, but they were fairly courteous and eventually released me after getting all my contact info. They said I had NOT broken any laws so I was free to go."

So let's get this straight: A physician with a newborn baby loses most everything he owns in the hurricane, does what most of us WANT to do and "echoes" Cheney's words he spoke on the god-damned Senate floor last year, walks away harmlessly, mission accomplished, and then once the media cameras leave, he is treated like a foreign terrorist as Cheney's goons waving M-16s handcuff him in front of his destroyed home? Had it not been for the media cameras filming the initial scene, I doubt Cheney's goons would have just let Marble go after 20 minutes.

America, land of the free?

Marble and his family have been in the media spotlight before, including his wife, Lisa, and baby, Sofia Grace, who was born shortly after the storm, on CNN. Marble has also been interviewed in art magazines and the Biloxi Sun Herald about his concert fund-raisers and musical success -- one of his bands, dR. O, has had at least 20 No. 1 songs on the MP3.com charts.

"The truth is even with all our losses, we are still luckier than many people down here because at least we didn't die," Marble wrote. "But I thought I could try to raise some awareness to the bad policies of the Dubya Gump administration and also possibly raise some money to replace the many things we lost, and so I decided I would auction the videotape my friend shot of the event. I will also grant an interview
to the winner if so desired."

So go to eBay here and place a bid for this important video to help Marble raise some needed funds. I have done so and was at least at one time the high bidder.

Marble also has an Internet site with photographs of some damage in his town at http://www.HurricaneKatrinaSucked.com. A photo of him is at http://www.theharbinger.org/xix/000919/smith.html and you can also email Marble at clone9@yahoo.com.

Dr. Ben Marble, you rock. May we all return the favor.

Jackson Thoreau is a Washington, D.C.-area journalist/writer. The latest book to which he contributed, Big Bush Lies, was published by RiverWood Books of Ashland, Ore. He is working on another book called "Thou Shalt Not Cheat: How Bush and Rove Broke the Rules, From the Sandlot to the White House." He can be contacted at jacksonthor@gmail.com.

source: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/9/153413/7797

TAB Indictments, Brownwood, & Politics of the Day !

Grand Jury Indicts PAC Connected to DeLay
Sep 08 12:56 PM US/Eastern

AUSTIN, Texas

A grand jury has indicted a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and a Texas business group in connection with 2002 legislative campaign contributions.
The five felony indictments against the two groups were made public Thursday. Neither DeLay nor any individuals with the business group has been charged with any wrongdoing.
The charge against Texans for a Republican Majority alleged the committee illegally accepted a political contribution of $100,000 from the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.

Four indictments against the Texas Association of Business include charges of unlawful political advertising, unlawful contributions to a political committee and unlawful expenditures such as those to a graphics company and political candidates.

source: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/08/D8CG6QGG4.html
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The TAB & Brownwood

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Brownwood Native Roy Spence & "Amazing Faith of Texas"

What an appropriate project coming from a Brownwood Native. All faith is local !

Brownwood Bulletin
Tuesday September 6, 2005
News
Roy Spence announces project to explore 'Amazing Faith of Texas'
By Roy Spence Jr. -- Special to the Bulletin

"The Amazing Faith of Texas" is a humble attempt to build a common purpose around the variety of faiths of our people. It reflects my concern that here and around the world we are many times hearing the views and voices of only those who seek to divide people and cultures, helping create an environment that fuels cultural wars in the name of religion."

fyi...

Brownwood: As it is !

Brownwood: As it is !
Originally uploaded by photosteve.

.......as it possibly relates to the attacks coming from those involved, in some capacity, with the website www.cityofbrownwood.com !

A Failure of Leadership

listen here...

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Published on Monday, September 5, 2005 by The New York Times
A Failure of Leadership
by Bob Herbert

"Bush to New Orleans: Drop Dead"

Neither the death of the chief justice nor the frantic efforts of panicked White House political advisers can conceal the magnitude of the president's failure of leadership last week. The catastrophe in New Orleans billowed up like the howling winds of hell and was carried live and in color on television screens across the U.S. and around the world.
The Big Easy had turned into the Big Hurt, and the colossal failure of George W. Bush to intervene powerfully and immediately to rescue tens of thousands of American citizens who were suffering horribly and dying in agony was there for all the world to see.
Hospitals with deathly ill patients were left without power, with ventilators that didn't work, with floodwaters rising on the lower floors and with corpses rotting in the corridors and stairwells. People unable to breathe on their own, or with cancer or heart disease or kidney failure, slipped into comas and sank into their final sleep in front of helpless doctors and relatives. These were Americans in desperate trouble.
The president didn't seem to notice.
Death and the stink of decay were all over the city. Corpses were propped up in wheelchairs and on lawn furniture, or left to decompose on sunbaked sidewalks. Some floated by in water fouled by human feces.
Degenerates roamed the city, shooting at rescue workers, beating and robbing distraught residents and tourists, raping women and girls. The president of the richest, most powerful country in the history of the world didn't seem to notice.
Viewers could watch diabetics go into insulin shock on national television, and you could see babies with the pale, vacant look of hunger that we're more used to seeing in dispatches from the third world. You could see their mothers, dirty and hungry themselves, weeping.
Old, critically ill people were left to soil themselves and in some cases die like stray animals on the floor of an airport triage center. For days the president of the United States didn't seem to notice.
He would have noticed if the majority of these stricken folks had been white and prosperous. But they weren't. Most were black and poor, and thus, to the George W. Bush administration, still invisible.
After days of withering criticism from white and black Americans, from conservatives as well as liberals, from Republicans and Democrats, the president finally felt compelled to act, however feebly. (The chorus of criticism from nearly all quarters demanding that the president do something tells me that the nation as a whole is so much better than this administration.)
Mr. Bush flew south on Friday and proved (as if more proof were needed) that he didn't get it. Instead of urgently focusing on the people who were stranded, hungry, sick and dying, he engaged in small talk, reminiscing at one point about the days when he used to party in New Orleans, and mentioning that Trent Lott had lost one of his houses but that it would be replaced with "a fantastic house - and I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever by a president during a dire national emergency. What we witnessed, as clearly as the overwhelming agony of the city of New Orleans, was the dangerous incompetence and the staggering indifference to human suffering of the president and his administration.
And it is this incompetence and indifference to suffering (yes, the carnage continues to mount in Iraq) that makes it so hard to be optimistic about the prospects for the United States over the next few years. At a time when effective, innovative leadership is desperately needed to cope with matters of war and peace, terrorism and domestic security, the economic imperatives of globalization and the rising competition for oil, the United States is being led by a man who seems oblivious to the reality of his awesome responsibilities.
Like a boy being prepped for a second crack at a failed exam, Mr. Bush has been meeting with his handlers to see what steps can be taken to minimize the political fallout from this latest demonstration of his ineptitude. But this is not about politics. It's about competence. And when the president is so obviously clueless about matters so obviously important, it means that the rest of us, like the people left stranded in New Orleans, are in deep, deep trouble.

Bob Herbert joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed columnist in 1993. His twice a week column comments on politics, urban affairs and social trends.
source: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0905-27.htm

"It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground.": US President, G.W.Bush

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Published on Thursday, September 1, 2005 by Knight-Ridder
Federal Government Wasn't Ready for Katrina, Disaster Experts Say
The slow response to Katrina and poor federal leadership is a replay of 1992's mishandling of Hurricane Andrew
by Seth Borenstein

WASHINGTON - The federal government so far has bungled the job of quickly helping the multitudes of hungry, thirsty and desperate victims of Hurricane Katrina, former top federal, state and local disaster chiefs said Wednesday.

" What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels. All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."
former Bush administration disaster response manager Eric Tolbert

The experts, including a former Bush administration disaster response manager, told Knight Ridder that the government wasn't prepared, scrimped on storm spending and shifted its attention from dealing with natural disasters to fighting the global war on terrorism.
The disaster preparedness agency at the center of the relief effort is the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was enveloped by the new Department of Homeland Security with a new mission aimed at responding to the attacks of al-Qaida.
"What you're seeing is revealing weaknesses in the state, local and federal levels," said Eric Tolbert, who until February was FEMA's disaster response chief. "All three levels have been weakened. They've been weakened by diversion into terrorism."
source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0901-01.htm
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Bush and Katrina:
A time for action, not aloofness

AS THE EXTENT of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation became clearer on Tuesday — millions without power, tens of thousands homeless, a death toll unknowable because rescue crews can’t reach some regions — President Bush carried on with his plans to speak in San Diego, as if nothing important had happened the day before.
Katrina already is measured as one of the worst storms in American history. And yet, President Bush decided that his plans to commemorate the 60th anniversary of VJ Day with a speech were more pressing than responding to the carnage.
A better leader would have flown straight to the disaster zone and announced the immediate mobilization of every available resource to rescue the stranded, find and bury the dead, and keep the survivors fed, clothed, sheltered and free of disease.
The cool, confident, intuitive leadership Bush exhibited in his first term, particularly in the months immediately following Sept. 11, 2001, has vanished. In its place is a diffident detachment unsuitable for the leader of a nation facing war, natural disaster and economic uncertainty.
Wherever the old George W. Bush went, we sure wish we had him back.

source: http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=59785
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The day Arizona was in the eye of Hurricane George
Aug. 30, 2005 12:00 AM

I'm guessing that Monday, Aug. 29, 2005, will not be remembered as the day President George W. Bush stopped by a retirement community in El Mirage to discuss prescription drug benefits for seniors.
As nice as it was to have the president visit the state we live in, I believe it would have been OK with us if Mr. Bush had canceled or at least postponed his plans in order to monitor the progress of Hurricane Katrina and to review federal relief plans.
As it is, however, the president decided to visit El Mirage. Life goes on. He spoke briefly about the hurricane, promising disaster relief. Then, after urging Americans to pray for those most affected by the storm, Bush said, "I also want to talk about immigration." I've got a feeling that historians looking back on this day will not describe that transition as a particularly shining presidential moment.
As important as the topic of immigration is to people living in Arizona, and as self-centered as we all can be, I figure that most of us would not have minded if the president hadn't discussed our troublesome border at the same time that huge storm was pounding cities on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana and Mississippi.
It may have been nice for us to hear the president tell Arizona residents, "It's important for the people of this state to understand that your voices are being heard in Washington, D.C." But I think that it would have been acceptable if, just for a day, the president focused all of his domestic attention on the meteorological event affecting Greater New Orleans.
We all have jobs to do, often at the same time that we are dealing with personal disasters, both natural and otherwise.
But on a day when the devastation of the hurricane was far from known, even those most concerned with, for instance, the war in Iraq, probably didn't need the president to reassuringly tell the El Mirage audience, "I'm very optimistic about Iraq."
And if Aug. 29, 2005, is remembered at all, I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't have anything to do with the president having told a friendly audience in Arizona how happy he is that "we finally got ourselves an energy bill."
Or because the president took a moment to reassure seniors about Social Security.
And I'd give you odds that it won't be because he said nice things about Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl or Rep. Trent Franks.
In a way, the president of the United States is the eye of a constantly circulating political hurricane. Ordinarily, the fact that he made landfall in Arizona would be big news. The fact that there were war protesters outside the president's appearance might have meant something, too, were it not for the fact that an actual hurricane struck on the same day.
Bush could have pointed this out. He could have skipped Arizona for Washington, D.C. He could have said that war, immigration, Social Security, Medicare and the rest are important, but for this day let's put them aside, along with the rest of our personal and political special interests, and concentrate on the folks in the path of the storm.
Disaster experts said Monday that it could take days or weeks before we understand the full extent of the damage caused by Katrina. Yet by afternoon the hurricane story seemed to have been downgraded more than the hurricane.
Monday will not be remembered for the trip that President Bush made to a retirement community in El Mirage. But a clever historian might mark Aug. 29, 2005, as the day when Americans proved that even in the face of a hurricane we couldn't get over ourselves.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8978.

source:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0830montini30.html#
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Bush sees hurricane damage from Air Force One
Aug 31 2:33 PM US/Eastern
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's plane swooped low over three states on Wednesday, giving him a somber view of the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina as he returned to Washington to oversee the U.S. government's response.
Air Force One descended to less than 3,000 feet (900 meters) over Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to allow Bush to see some of the worst damage.
At 2,500 feet over New Orleans, the president and his aides could see the skin of the Superdome roof peeled back by the storm's fury.
"It's totally wiped out," Bush remarked as the modified Boeing 747 moved east past Slidell, a Louisiana community reduced to a pile of rubble and sticks.

"It's devastating, it's got to be doubly devastating on the ground," Bush said, according to his spokesman Scott McClellan.

to view the entire article please visit:
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/31/MTFH18198_2005-08-31_18-41-55_SCH157745.html
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AirForceOne

as it is...

as it is...

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The National Guard Belongs in New Orleans and Biloxi. Not Baghdad.
by Norman Solomon
 
The men and women of the National Guard shouldn’t be killing in Iraq.
They should be helping in New Orleans and Biloxi.
The catastrophic hurricane was an act of God. But the U.S. war effort in Iraq is a continuing act of the president. And now, that effort is hampering the capacity of the National Guard to save lives at home.
Before the flooding of New Orleans drastically escalated on Tuesday, the White House tried to disarm questions that could be politically explosive. “To those of you who are concerned about whether or not we’re prepared to help, don’t be, we are,” President Bush said. “We’re in place, we’ve got equipment in place, supplies in place, and once the -- once we’re able to assess the damage, we’ll be able to move in and help those good folks in the affected areas.”

source: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0831-27.htm
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Montana Governor Sets Off Fight with Call to Bring Guard Home
Reuters

Sunday 13 March 2005

Sula, Mont. - Gov. Brian Schweitzer has touched off a political fight with Montana Republicans after calling for the return of National Guard troops serving in Iraq to help out in what many fear will be a record-setting wildfire season.
Mr. Schweitzer, a newly elected Democrat, infuriated Republican lawmakers who see his request as a way to criticize the Bush administration over Iraq.
"He's figured out how to use the wildfire season to protest the Iraq war," said Bob Keenan, the state Senate Republican leader. "It's an antiwar statement and condemnation of Bush's actions."
The governor and his supporters deny those accusations in a growing political battle that comes as weather experts say a seven-year drought and a severely reduced snowpack could lead to a devastating summer of wildfires.
They also worry that limited resources stretched thinner by the National Guard's service overseas could make it hard to combat the kind of huge blazes that engulfed the state in 2000, when some 2,400 wildfires burned nearly 950,000 acres of mostly public land.
"Everything right now is pointing to the possibility of a large and damaging fire season," said Bruce Thoricht, meteorologist with the federal Northern Rockies Coordination Center in Missoula.
to read the entire article go here: http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/37/9609
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Following is a list of refineries that remained completely shut as of Aug. 30:

ExxonMobil /PDVSA's 187,000 b/d Chalmette refinery in Louisiana;
Chevron's 325,000 b/d refinery in Pascagoula, Miss.;
Valero Energy's 190,000 b/d St. Charles refinery in Louisiana;
Motiva Enterprises' 242,000 b/d Norco refinery and 252,000 b/d Convent refinery, both in Louisiana;
ConocoPhillips' 250,000 b/d Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, La.;
Marathon Ashland Petroleum's 245,000 b/d refinery in Garyville, La.;
Murphy Oil's Meraux plant;
Ergon Refining's 23,000 b/d refinery in Vicksburg, Miss.; and
Hunt Southland's 11,000 b/d Sandersville refinery and 5,800 b/d; Lumberton refinery, both in Mississippi.

Serious gas crunch reported
SUSAN KIM
BALTIMORE (August 31, 2005) —
Emergency managers up the east coast and elsewhere are reporting serious gas shortages.
"We may be facing a major fuel supply situation," reported a county-level emergency manager in South Carolina. "We in this county are cutting all non-essential services such as garbage pickup. It is a developing situation."
Gas stations in upstate South Carolina reported they were running out of gas. "The state is telling us the pipeline that services the northeast has been disrupted at the supply point in Louisiana, and that it will take a week and half for it to reach us," he said. "A lot of gas stations are out and closed in this area."
In central Maryland, many gas stations were shut down by Wednesday night. "I don't know when I'll get gas again," said one station owner in Laurel, Md.
In North Carolina, a gas station on U.S. 74 reported it had only premium gas left and was selling it for $2.99. Station managers say they are unable to get gas from their suppliers. A nearby competitor station reported it had to close altogether because it was out of all fuel.
In Michigan, gas prices were as high as $3.92 for unleaded regular in Garden City, just one of many stations with high prices in the Detroit metro area. Forty percent of Michigan’s gas comes from the Gulf Coast.
In Atlanta, gas prices were rising and shortages were imminent, residents reported.
Hurricane Katrina shut down a number of oil platforms, refineries and pipelines.

Posted August 31, 2005 6:56 PM
source: http://www.disasternews.net/news/news.php?articleid=2800
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Fuel shortages could affect W.Va. emergency vehicles

WKYT/WYMT Headlines
Gas Prices Hit Record High in Kentucky
Governor Mobilizes Kentucky National Guard

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- At least two West Virginia counties have been scrambling to find enough fuel to run their emergency vehicles and public transportation systems following looming fuel shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The Transit Authority in Huntington, which supplies fuel to its fleet of buses, ambulances for Cabell County Emergency Services and to the Cabell County Sheriff's Department, only has enough gasoline for police cruisers until Friday, Vickie Shaffer, TTA general manager, told The Herald-Dispatch for Wednesday's edition.
Diesel fuel for buses and county ambulances would dwindle by the middle of next week, she said.
"What we have here in my opinion is an early indication the problem is bigger than we thought it would be," Shaffer said. "We may have an interruption in fuel, and we need to address that."
The problem could spread to consumer outlets, where the price of regular gasoline jumped 50 cents overnight in some areas from $2.59 a gallon to $3.09 on Wednesday.
Cabell County is not alone. Officials in Kanawha County also are facing short supplies of gasoline and diesel.
Doug Hartley, Kanawha Rapid Transit System's assistant general manager, said the county's supply of gasoline for police cruisers and other vehicles would only last until Friday, while it has a 21-day supply of diesel fuel. The earliest refill for gasoline could come Wednesday, while it might be possible to get diesel fuel Thursday.
"We're told there is no guarantee," Hartley told The Charleston Gazette.
Gulf Coast crude oil is not being delivered, causing several refineries in the Midwest to back off supplies, said Linda Casey, a spokeswoman for Marathon-Ashland Petroleum, which operates a refinery in Catlettsburg, Ky.
Eight of Marathon-Ashland Petroleum's refineries in Louisiana are now closed, she said.
source: http://www.wkyt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3789327
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What's being written to President Bush in the "Light of Day" !

it is being written...

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At Least Ten U.S. Airports Face Closure Due to Jet Fuel Shortages

August 31, 2005… Airlines and oil companies are working on plans to supply jet fuel to at least ten U.S. airports that could be shut down due to a lack of jet fuel caused by refinery and pipeline shutdowns from hurricane Katrina. The airports in most jeopardy for closure include Atlanta, Charlotte, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Orlando, Tampa, Washington Dulles and West Palm Beach.
source: http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=3343
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"No One Can Say they Didn't See it Coming"

By Sidney Blumenthal

In 2001, FEMA warned that a hurricane striking New Orleans was one of the three most likely disasters in the U.S. But the Bush administration cut New Orleans flood control funding by 44 percent to pay for the Iraq war.
Biblical in its uncontrolled rage and scope, Hurricane Katrina has left millions of Americans to scavenge for food and shelter and hundreds to thousands reportedly dead. With its main levee broken, the evacuated city of New Orleans has become part of the Gulf of Mexico. But the damage wrought by the hurricane may not entirely be the result of an act of nature.

as it is...

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Biloxi Newspaper Slams Relief Effort, Begs for Help

By Greg Mitchell
Published: August 31, 2005 10:15 PM ET
NEW YORK The Sun Herald of Biloxi, Miss., in an editorial today, criticized the relief effort in its ravaged area so far, and told officials and the nation-at-large: "South Mississippi needs your help."
It angrily revealed: "While the flow of information is frustratingly difficult, our reporters have yet to find evidence of a coordinated approach to relieve pain and hunger or to secure property and maintain order. People are hurting and people are being vandalized.
"Yet where is the National Guard, why hasn't every able-bodied member of the armed forces in South Mississippi been pressed into service?"
Pointedly, it declared that earlier today, "reporters listening to horrific stories of death and survival at the Biloxi Junior High School shelter looked north across Irish Hill Road and saw Air Force personnel playing basketball and performing calisthenics."

as it is...

Hurricane Katrina Info., New Orleans Blogging & Texas Response

Published on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 by CBS News

Martial Law Declared in New Orleans; Situation Deteriorating

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana -- Martial Law has been declared in New Orleans as conditions continued to deteriorate. Water levels in The Big Easy and it's suburbs are rising at dangerous levels and officials stated they don't know where the water is coming from. Residents are being urged to get out of New Orleans in any way they can as officials fear "life will be unsustainable" for days or even weeks.
to read the entire article please visit: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0830-10.htm
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nola.com...

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storm surge...

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New Orleans Blogging

read here...

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RedCross...

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New Orleans Radio...

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Texans Responding

Texas help...

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Kudos to Texas Governor Rick Perry

Katrina refugees arrive at Reunion Arena
05:05 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 31, 2005
By KIMBERLY DURNAN / DallasNews.com

"In the face of such tragic circumstances, we are neighbors and we are going to pull together so these families can find as much normalcy as possible," Perry said.
source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/katrina/stories/090105dntexkatrinaastrodome.10052604.html

UPDATE: Perry criticized for pushing his own charity

Governor's office defends promotion of relief effort
07:39 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 7, 2005
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry, in hurricane relief tours around the state, in news releases and on his official state Web site, has urged Texans to contribute to three groups: the Red Cross, Salvation Army and the OneStar Foundation.
The last of those is a volunteer-coordinating effort founded by Mr. Perry. His prominent promotion of his own foundation has prompted some to question whether the governor is trying to benefit politically from the outpouring of sympathy and good works in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"One thing about politicians, you can never overestimate their shamelessness," said Fred Lewis, director of Campaigns for People, a group that favors greater disclosure of political donations and limits on the influence of large donors.
to read the entire article go to : http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/090805dntexonestar.1f5d90b.html
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CNN Katrina Blogging............

CNN Katrina Blog...

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